


Wildfire

by WholeLottaTiffy



Series: An Odd and Dangerous Pair [6]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Addiction, Addiction Help, Blood Drinking, Blood and Violence, Developing Relationship, Elder Blood (The Witcher), Elder Speech, Established Relationship, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Illusions, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Scarification, Vampire Fights, attempting to create another conjunction, dimeritium magic, etruscan as the vampiric language, old friends reunited, saska yet again doesnt listen to anyone but herself, saska's children are again mentioned because i cant help myself, scarification used as a rite of passage ritual, spoilers in the tags, tw addiction, tw scarring, vampire lore, vampire lore loveliness, waterbending type magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:02:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 45,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27267679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WholeLottaTiffy/pseuds/WholeLottaTiffy
Summary: It is the year 1273. Regis and Saska are living comfortably and peacefully in Toussaint when they receive a letter stating their friend, Dettlaff van der Eretein has left suddenly. On their quest to find their friend, they come across a woman, not knowing how much of their lives would begin to change. For better, or for worse.-----Trigger Warnings: Graphic Violence and Death, Addiction (Blood Addiction), Scarification (used as a rite of passage)I would highly suggest reading the previous installments before reading this one
Relationships: Dettlaff van der Eretein/Original Female Character(s), Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy/Original Female Character(s)
Series: An Odd and Dangerous Pair [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1015743
Comments: 38
Kudos: 33





	1. Sprigs of Lavender

**Author's Note:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We start off our story in Toussaint, where Regis and Saska come across someone quite interesting...

Sitting up a little in bed, Regis takes a look around the room before looking down at Saska who is sleeping soundly on his chest. Her hair is a bit messier than usual resting over her shoulders. Smiling to himself, he brushes her hair out from in front of her face. He sits there for a while, just watching her and listening to her slow heartbeat, indicating she is fast asleep all the while losing himself in the sound. 

_ Thump Thump  
_ _ Thump Thump  
_ _ Thump Thump _

He finds himself in these quiet moments just lying there with his mate in his arms and just allows himself to listen to her heartbeat. At this point, after the years being together, he has learned the way it picks up pace when she begins to wake up, and the way it slows down when she is falling asleep. 

He realizes the time once he begins to hear birds chirping outside the crypt. Looking around the room, he sees a number of pillows beside him that he isn’t laying on. In one swoop, he takes the pillows, sits up enough to put them behind him, and loses his corporeal shell and mists off the bed slowly. Saska’s body slowly falls back into the mound of pillows as Regis’s body disappears out from under her. 

Appearing beside the bed, he waits for a moment and realizes she hasn’t woken up from the movement. 

_ Score one for me. Time to get dressed. _

He collects his clothes from around the room from their previous night’s escapades and puts on his pants, and his long shirt, buttoning it up. Regis finds that his eyes wander down to Saska on the bed. From this angle, he can see the marks on her hips. He can’t explain what he felt, but he feels this… jolt in his chest. Knowing that she trusted him enough to allow him to mark her. 

And seeing the marks fully healed calms his nerves too. 

Walking to the nearby wall, he steps in front of the mirror he had snatched from what he eventually had found through Saska, was her apartment in another dimension. He fixes his collar and brushes his fingers through his hair making himself look decent before he begins going about his morning. 

Having a cup of tea.  
Picking any herbs or plants that have fully grown.   
Writing down any notes he needs to write.  
Organizing and putting away anything he picks. 

What is a little different in his morning routine is picking up Dettlaff’s scent strong in the air. He looks around for a bit before going back to picking herbs when he doesn’t find his blood brother. 

By this point, it is just before noon and Saska stirs awake. She sits up in bed and finds that there are a bit more pillows than normal, and the absence of her vampire boyfriend. Snapping her fingers, she summons her underclothes consisting of her black undershirt, pants, and her boots as she stands up and gets out of bed. 

Saska walks on over to the mirror and picks up her brush that’s on a side table nearby and brushes through her hair. As she brushes her hair, she sees Regis at his desk working, dressed in his shirt, pants and apron. He smiles as he sees her awake. 

“Ah, good morning, love. I was wondering when you would wake up.” Putting the brush down, Saska walks over to Regis’s seated position.

"Oh I’m  _ sorry _ . Someone had me up late last night.” She kisses the top of his head as she walks behind him. 

“Really? Someone keeping my lady up all night? Well, I certainly hope you had a good time at the very least.”

“Oh,” she leans down and whispers in his ear, “a  _ very good time  _ …” Completely switching gears, she sits up on his table and looks down at him dropping the sexy act. “So, what are you up to?”

“I will have you know you are almost sitting,” he moves the sprigs of lavender out from beside her and holds them up, “on some newly grown and picked sprigs.”

“They finished growing?”

“They sure did. Come here.” 

Scooting closer to him, he pushes his chair back and stands up and takes a step closer to her. He begins creating a small braid on the right side of her face, intertwining it with some of the lavender. Saska watches how intently he concentrates on braiding her hair. She watches for a minute before speaking. 

“You know,” she begins, “I could do this with a little spell, right?”

“I do. But I quite like doing it. It’s relaxing. Turn your head please.”

Turning her head to the right, Regis begins creating the second braid to frame her face and notices how her eyes look straight at the note on the table. Saska takes the time to look it over once she recognizes the handwriting. 

_ Regis  
_ _ I left Toussaint   
_ _ Rhenna wasn’t missing. She left me  
_ _ I will be alright, with time  
_ _ Don't worry like you normally do _

“Go on and ask. I know you are looking at it, my dear.” Regis says as he finishes up the second braid. 

“Is he going to be alright? I know for you guys, relationships are a bit more intense?”

“Well, I certainly hope he will be. I thought I had felt a strange emotion the other night. I had hoped it wasn’t him but I suppose it was.”

“You felt him again?” Regis nods his head. “So, is this another adventure or are we staying put.”

“Are you joking? Of course we are going after him. I can’t believe I am saying this but I am getting quite stir crazy as of late.”

“Coming from the same man who didn’t want me moving on my own practically half a year ago. When do you wanna head out?”

“Hm, well let’s gather our things, get properly dressed and we can start by going over to his home. Maybe we can find something of use there, or he may still be there.”

Regis, getting dressed the old fashioned way, removes his apron, gets on his overcoat, belt and shoes as Saska uses a simple wave of her hand and her overcoat appears around her, a belt buckling around her waist in a glow of blue light that eventually dissipates. What she does put on the old fashioned way is her Raven broach and her bracelet. 

Grabbing the small box from above their bed, she opens it and pins the Raven pin onto her left collar. She takes out the bracelet and puts the small box back on one of the shelves. Saska looks down at the bracelet that would spiral around her wrist when on, and allows her fingers to run over the small dimeritium stones inlaid into the gold metal. Her mind trails to the moment Miir had given it to her. 

* * *

_ Miir, appearing through a portal, finds Saska sitting on one of the outside tombs looking out at the sunset. Joining her, he sits down beside her looking out at the sunset too. _

_ “I had run down into the market to grab some food for us if you would like some. It’s inside.” Saska says to Miir looking at him.  _

_ “Thank you, but I had already picked something up and ate while in town today.” He says responding to her. _

_ “Find what you were looking for?” _

_ “Yes, in fact…” reaching into his pockets, he pulls out a small box, “I’d like to give you something.” She looks at the box in his hands and watches as he opens it and shows her a bracelet. “Seeing how your body has responded to dimeritium, and seeing how it hasn’t for some time now, I believe, if you’re comfortable with it, wearing a small portion of it somewhere on your person.” _

_ “Really? And it’s safe?” _

_ “Yes. I wouldn’t be giving this to you if it wasn’t… Only a handful of mages have been able to take dimeritium, something that should render us useless and powerless, into something that you can use to your advantage.” He places it back inside the box and hands it over to her. “Wear it if you feel comfortable with the idea. In the end it is your choice. I just wanted to give you all the options to use at your disposal.” _

* * *

Regis watches as she hesitates to put it on for a minute, and when he grabs his satchel and slings it across his body, she finally slides it onto her left wrist. “Still debating on whether or not to wear it?”

“I know it can’t hurt me anymore, but it still freaks me out. After all this time of avoiding dimeritium like the plague…” she takes a deep breath before sliding the bracelet on her left wrist and looks down at it, “it’s still strange to me.”

“Using your old weakness to your advantage… quite an impressive feat if you can pull it off no matter how daunting and downright frightening it can be. But if you care for my opinion, I believe you should wear it. There’s no telling what we will encounter on the road. Maybe one day it will start glowing and lighting will come from the sky like an epic legend.”

Saska laughs a little, “I suppose you’re right. We’ll definitely have plenty of time to try it out.”

“I know I’m right. So, my dear, are you ready?”

“I am.”

The pair walks outside the crypt and the sun shines down over Beauclair. Saska stops once she gets outside and takes a look at the bracelet and does a simple healing spell with both hands, seeing that her spells work just fine. She smiles, ending the spell and continues on with Regis. 

“See? I told you it was a good idea. Do you feel any different after casting the spell?” Regis asks as they walk down the hill and towards the main city of Beauclair.

“I don’t feel any different, not entirely sure what I was expecting to be honest. But it’s nice to know it at least isn’t affecting me in a negative way.”

Once they reach Beauclair, they walk outside Dettlaff’s workshop and home in the harbor. Regis pats his pockets and realizes he forgot something. “Hm… it would’ve helped if I remembered the key. There are way too many people around to fly through the window.”

“Pfft,” Saska begins, “please. Allow me.” Walking up to the door, she grasps the knob and makes sure her hand is covered by her body. A light blue hue appears around the knob and it slowly turns in her grasp. The door opens and Saska glances back at Regis who follows her inside.

“Now that is a new one. I knew you could do that with your own locked things, but others?”

“I don’t tend to go running around and unlocking every locked door I find. Do you go around and fly inside homes to snoop around?”

“Fair enough.” Regis shuts the door behind them and he takes a long sniff of the air. “He hasn’t been gone for long at all… but he isn’t here… he flew… clever man flew off. Must’ve flown away from Beauclair from here though.”

“Can you still track him?”

“I can, but it’ll be a touch harder to track him on the ground, unless you have a sudden ability to fly that you haven’t told me about.”

“Well, if dimeritium can make me fly I’d really appreciate it if it could kick in right about now. Is there anything we can use here to help us out?” Regis thinks for a moment before responding.

“Knowing Dettlaff, this note was the only thing he left. When he gets this upset and runs off, he doesn’t wish to be followed.”

“But thankfully we have your large-super-sniffer to help us out?”

“Precisely!” Saska smiles to herself as she looks around as Regis realizes what she actually said. “Wait… large?”

Saska laughs, “C’mon, gotta keep going to make sure that super-sniffer of yours doesn’t lose the trail.” She responds as she walks back outside, Regis waiting a moment grasping his satchel’s strap a bit more.

“... It isn’t that large…”

For the next ten minutes, Saska and Regis continuously tease one another, Regis leading the way. Especially since he is the one that can follow Dettlaff’s scent trail. At a certain point, Saska stops listening to Regis go on and on after hearing someone speaking at the bootblack stand off to the left hand side of the path they’re walking down. She stops, Regis stopping a few feet away.

“Excuse me sir, but did you just say monster?” Saska asks the man who’s speaking to another man getting his shoes cleaned. The man turns and nods her way,

“Aye lass. I’d avoid the North of here if I were you.” The man says as Regis now joins Saska at the bootblack stand. “But eh, come a ‘lil closer, lass. Rather not start a panic.” The man says talking quieter. Regis follows Saska over to the man, listening closely. “North up the path by the mill, I saw something. It was a… monster of some kind. It was more… human looking though. Wearing black and red.”

“What was it doing? Did you see anything else?”

“Aye, it was knelt over a man. It turned to look at me then flew off. I ran off right quick.” The man responds, obviously getting nervous. Saska nods her head and looks at Regis.

“Well, it seems like we should try and avoid the roadway by the mill then, dear.” Saska says, Regis notices the slight change in her voice. Regis looks at the man, continuing. “Thank you sir. Come love, let’s be off.”

The pair leaves the area, and once a little ways away, Saska leans in towards Regis and whispers, “What do you think, could it be Dettlaff?”

“No matter how upset Dettlaff can be, I do not believe he would be that reckless in broad daylight. But still, I can still smell his scent. We may as well check it out, but we must exercise absolute caution.”

“Sounds good to me.”

The pair travels North out of Beauclair’s harbour and eventually reaches a number of forks in the road. Regis stays a step ahead, and finds that he begins to smell Dettlaff’s scent less, and more of another scent. The pair continues down the path that travels along the water, and eventually finds themselves nearby the mill. 

Saska can see Regis’s body language change to be a bit more tense as he stops walking once they are in the eyeshot of the mill. Looking to the right, he sees a small clearing in the trees right by the water. The sunlight illuminates the lifeless form on the ground. 

The pair both walk off the path and through the small treeline and into the clearing. Saska grimaces at the sight of the man lying lifeless on the ground as Regis kneels down beside him. He begins by looking over his body, looking for any sign of what could have done this. 

“I guess we found what that guy at the bootblack was talking about…” Saska begins before kneeling down on the other side of the man. “Any sign of Dettlaff?” Regis shakes his head no.

“This wasn’t him. His scent died down more as we began to see the mill… interesting though. Whoever, or whatever did this, did this very clean.”

“Is your version of clean having a throat of a man ripped out?” Saska asks, Regis glancing at her before responding.

“You know what I mean. Sure, it is not the stereotypical two fang marks you mortals assume would be from a vampire but this… whatever did this made sure to make as little mess as possible.” 

As Saska began to talk, Regis was not listening whatsoever. A light breeze had blown in from the North and the same smell that currently is hitting his nostrils, gets stronger. Slowly standing up, he focuses on looking past the trees and towards the mill. He sees a flash of a female figure come out from behind one wall before disappearing into a light mist.

“Leave. Now” Regis says simply. When he sees that Saska is still standing beside him, now utterly confused, he continues. “Trust me.” Saska squints her eyes at him and off to where he is now looking before teleporting away from the clearing. 

After a few seconds, he sees the most faint mist trail traveling along the ground before it dissipates behind a nearby tree, a woman walking out from behind it. She stops once in the clearing, staring at him. He nods his head at her, the woman not relaxing in the slightest bit. 

_ Please tell me you actually left, Saska… please tell me you listened for once, _ he thinks to himself as Saska, indeed, did not leave the immediate area, but watches from a distance up in a nearby tree readying a spell. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I hope you enjoyed reading, and please let me know if you find any errors that I may have missed as this was not beta-read.  
> Current posting schedule - Every Thursday
> 
> Special thanks for this installment: gharashambles/silenceisaweapon, awkward-turtles-world, mackallackattack, herbalina-of-yesteryear/littleherbalina - Thank you all for listening to my absolute nonsense at all hours of the day and night <3


	2. Raven Haired Woman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving off last chapter, Regis now has to deal with the sudden appearance of another woman, one of his own kind as Saska most definitely has not left the area like he asked...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.  
> \-----  
> Extra special thanks to gharashambles/silenceinthedark for giving me a grumpy elf NPC for this chapter. You're the best!

Regis looks at the woman, taking in every detail about her as she stands in the clearing along the treeline. 

Black hair, falling past her shoulders in light curls and waves  
Black cloak, shirt, pants and boots  
Red detailing in fabrics and belts hugging her hips and waist  
Multiple rings adorn her fingers  
Bright purple eyes, what he compares to being similar to Yennefer’s eyes

What really stands out to him are what he thinks are scars, spelling out something in their native language on her left inner forearm. But he can’t make out what it says from his current position. The second she notices him looking at her arm, she turns it in a way where he can’t see the marks at all.

The woman, instead of speaking common, begins speaking in their native language.

“... Don’t bother. There’s not much left.” The woman says while motioning to the dead man. Regis makes sure to take extra care of his words, not used to speaking with another one of his kind, or anyone for that matter, in his native tongue for a full conversation anymore.

“Thank you, but I personally don't partake anymore.” She squints her eyes when he responds, Regis noticing the change in her facial expression. “I'm Regis. Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy.”

“… Lora.”

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. However, could I recommend maybe not doing… _this_ ,” he motions to the man, “in broad daylight? More people around, more chances to get caught.” He responds, only assuming that she may be younger than him because of the reckless feeding she had partaken in. 

“I got… a little desperate for a fix,” Lora responds, Regis noticing how her muscles relax a bit as she glances around the clearing before looking back at Regis, “but … thank you for the advice… You said you didn't… partake in this?”

“That is right.”

“… How?”

“What exactly do you mean?” Regis asks, now genuinely curious about the vampire in front of him.

“How did you stop?”

“Hm… That requires a bit more explanation, but I would personally recommend we get a bit further away from the area, away from… this. Just in case guards come by to investigate.”

“Fair enough.” The pair walk along out of the clearing and towards the Mill. Once they get closer, she asks a question that she’s been curious about ever since she saw Regis, and the other woman who suddenly disappeared. “Who is with you?” She asks, waiting for a response, but she notices he hesitates. “I've… never smelled blood like that before.”

“She is my mate.”

“… A mortal?” Regis nods his head. “And she is… aware of our kind?”

“Most definitely.” He responds as they walk to the other side of the Mill. Regis sits down on a nearby stump as Lora leans up against one of the Mill’s walls. “So, you had a question about how I stopped drinking?” Lora nods her head. “Bit of context though. One night, I was with a few of my friends and I was tasked with going out and getting some blood for the night. Flying under the influence isn’t too smart, so I overcalculated a landing and landed right in the middle of a town. They… tried to kill me, didn’t work out for them in the end. Ended up being buried in a ditch somewhere. I took the next half century thinking over my decisions. Thinking over what my life was up until that point. So I decided to stop drinking blood entirely. It has worked pretty well, especially with integrating into mortal society and culture.”

“Hm…” He watches as Lora looks away from him thinking for a minute before looking back at him, nodding her head once. “Thank you.” She disappears in a puff of smoke, and Regis sighs in relief as he gets a sudden whiff of Saska. He looks up and sees her appear in one of the windows inside the Mill.

“She’s gone?” Saska asks as she looks outside.

“Yes but,” Regis begins as Saska climbs out of the window and looks around, trying to see where she went as Regis gets up and meets her by the window, “love, I am pretty certain that I told you to go away so you wouldn’t be in danger-.”

“Regis-.”

“And another thing-.”

“You absolutely knew I wouldn't listen to you, but ignoring that… were you talking in your native language?” Regis, taken aback by her excitement, nods his head. “Gods it always sounds cool!” She sees how confused he looks, so she responds, “What? It sounded cool. I haven’t had the opportunity to hear a full conversation like that. What did she say?”

“Well… she mentioned that the man was drained dry and to not bother. I told her I don’t partake in drinking and naturally, she was curious. Asked me a number of questions about how I stopped.”

“Yeah? Do you think she was also trying to stop drinking blood?” Regis shrugs.

“I’m unsure. Either that, or she was just curious. Both are completely possible.”

“Was she a bruxa? That’s what I was most curious about.”

“I unfortunately didn’t get the opportunity to ask. Bruxa, could be even higher than that, similar to me, or even Dettlaff.” Regis pauses before continuing. “I also believe I saw… a tattoo perhaps on her forearm?” Saska, sensing his confusion, responds.

“And?”

“It appeared to be in our native language, but I couldn’t make out the letters. I’ve heard stories of our kind having an old tradition of tattooing and scarring. I do not know of a single vampire now that still partakes in the tradition, and the only ones that could have scars would be the Elders.”

“And she isn’t an Elder?”

“There is absolutely no way she could be. But we should continue on. Following as much of Dettlaff’s trail as possible now makes things easier. Less of a chance his scent trail will completely disappear before we find him. I’ll have enough time to contemplate this interaction on the road.”

The pair continues on the path North and eventually comes across a bridge, The Cockatrice Inn sitting on the other side of it. Regis slows a bit, smelling Dettlaff’s trail getting stronger the closer they are to the building. Saska notices after a minute how he has slowed to the point of now walking behind her. She stops to look at him, Regis stopping as well once he is beside her. 

“He spent some time here… it’s a lot stronger than what the trail was back across the bridge. And...” Regis hesitates, taking one more sniff of the air. A scent fills his nostrils, one that almost seems… familiar to him. 

_Peculiar… that scent…,_ he thinks to himself, _I know I have smelled that before… vampiric in nature definitely, but…_

“Regis?” He is bought out of his head by Saska who is looking up at him curiously. “What’s going on inside that head of yours?”

“Let us go inside and find a nice quiet corner. I can explain a bit easier without too many prying ears out here.”

Saska walks inside with Regis in tow. To their dismay, the place is bustling with people, eating, drinking, some drunkenly singing and a group in the corner arm wrestling one another. All in all, everyone is having a good time. Saska scopes it out, and along the left wall, there is a small portion of the tavern without anyone around. The pair take a seat and lean in on the table towards each other. Regis leans forward slightly, talking in a hushed tone. Saska seeing and hearing his change in tone, leans forward as well. 

“Dettlaff’s scent is strong here. However, another one of my kind is as well. But… it’s strange…”

“Strange?”

“Like I’ve smelled it before, but I cannot put a face, a name, anything to it.” Regis looks away from Saska but then suddenly meets the gaze of a patron not too far away from their position. The man squints his eyes at him before they go wide, a smile forming on his face. 

The man is dressed in extremely regal looking black clothes, the detailing in white and gold thread. Along with the doublet he is wearing, he also wears tight black pants, and boots that come up to his knees. He is almost as tall as Regis, and similar in build as well. His dirty blonde hair frames his pale face in curls. His hair is loosely pulled back in a low ponytail that ends right below his shoulder blades. As he gets closer, both Saska and Regis notice how his eyes are similar to that of gold. Once the man smiles, Regis realizes why the second scent he caught wind of smelled familiar. 

It’s one of his old pack mates, Anther. 

“By the Gods… is that who I think it is?” Anther begins as Regis stands up to greet him. Saska follows suit and stands, but stays where she is. “Out of everyone I could’ve bumped into I definitely wasn’t expecting you!” They both embrace one another in a hug. Saska watches as they both lean in just enough to one another, something she knows Regis does when they are close as well. It’s mainly to take in the other person’s scent. 

“It certainly has been quite a long time since we’ve seen one another, Anther. It’s… good to see you again.” Regis says. Anther is quick to respond.

“I uh… heard what happened from the others...” Anther pauses for a moment, “You definitely look like you’ve been through hell and back.”

“And you haven’t aged a day… however is that… grey hair I see?” Regis responds, raising an eyebrow as Anther laughs, slapping his arm playfully.

“Ah, shut the hell up, you’re one to talk.” Saska watches as the two converse, and she finds that Anther occasionally glances her direction. After a minute, Regis realizes this as well and turns just enough to be able to look at Saska, and Anther. 

“Where are my manners, Anther,” Regis begins looking between his old friend, and his mate, “this is Saska Riannon Dorren. My mini tia elfa (meaning “my other half” in Etruscan/Vampire).” Anther smiles a bit wider as he takes a few steps forward before bowing his head towards her. 

“Anther Morelia. A pleasure to finally meet…” Saska notices how he looks more curiously at her, “I’m sorry, but there is something about you… I feel like we’ve met once before but I just can’t remember. Regis,” Anther looks back at his friend, “there’s no way we could’ve met, could we?” 

Saska can see Regis’s body language shift to a bit more stiff as he responds. “Well, I am unsure if you two ever have met face to face. To be perfectly honest I don’t necessarily remember too many of our nights out on the town in our younger days. But she was the one back during the turn of the millennium that I traveled with. She was the white haired Elder Blood woman I had stumbled into.”

Anther immediately looks at Saska with a grin. “That was you?” Saska nods her head, Anther chuckling in response, “Damn, what a small world…” The three of them sit down, Anther pulling over a chair as he continues, “first hearing through Dettlaff that you went clean, and now this? You’ve been busy.”

“Most definitely. Speaking of Dettlaff, have you seen him recently? I received this note from him,” Regis says as he hands Anther the note, “Saska and I had just left on a trip to try and find him.”

“If there is one person I don’t understand, it’s him…” Anther hands the note back to Regis. “If I would’ve known he was upset I would’ve tried to flag him down.”

“You saw him?” Saska asks, Anther nods his head.

“I did, probably around, hm… I’d say early this morning. Way before sunrise. Looked like he was headed south out of Toussaint.” Regis begins to think hard about where his friend could have gone.

_South out of Toussaint… hm… where could he have-… Nazair._

Regis nods his head at Anther. “Thank you for the information.” He turns to Saska and continues, “I believe we should begin to head to Nazair. He tended to return there occasionally and could be our best bet in finding him.”

“Seems like you two have quite the journey. You should head out as soon as possible.” Anther stands up first, Regis next then Saska. “Good luck. Hopefully you find him.” Anther and Regis both hug once before Anther turns to Saska, nodding his head towards her. “A pleasure to finally meet you, Saska. Keep this one from doing something too stupid.”

“Oh, don’t worry. That won’t be a problem.” She says smiling at him. 

Saska and Regis leave The Cockatrice Inn, and they decide to walk south, following Dettlaff’s new trail. “Let’s try and procure some form of transportation that won’t be uncomfortable around me, horse, donkey, or even a carriage and we head off for Nazair.”

“Sounds good. I don’t oppose walking though if we have to… Since we’ve got some time, I have a question for you.” Regis turns his head to look at Saska as she continues. “I’ve only met a few others of your kind at this point, but none ever seemed… distant like Anther.” Regis smiles as she continues to talk. “Was it something I said, or didn’t say, was it-.”

“Dear, you are overthinking again. I’ve told you how others of our kind would treat us, specifically you, differently. Because you’ve been marked, my scent is much stronger on you, symbolizing that you are indeed, taken. Anther is a bit different since we were technically in a pack with one another. And still technically are in said pack. When a mate is involved, they are a part of the pack as well. Which means they have protection, no matter the cost.”

“But what about Dettlaff? Different case because of your bond with him?”

“A tad. Still the same, ‘protect the pack at all costs including all mates’, however because we are bound by blood…” Regis pauses, now realizing he does not have the answer to her question for once, “hm… I never thought to ask him. We should remember this question whenever we find him.”

Not too far away from the pair, Lora appears in another portion of forest along the waterline. Looking around, she finds a sturdy log to sit on which is somewhat in the water. Sitting on top, tucking her cloak underneath her to keep it from getting wet, she looks around over the landscape in front of her and looks to the left towards the bridge, seeing two particularly familiar silhouettes crossing it. 

_Regis… and that woman…_ she thinks to herself as she eyes a dead deer further down the river. She groans, itching for a drink. _Just drink whatever is left of the deer… not someone in broad daylight…_

Looking down at her left inner forearm, she looks over the scarred phrase on her skin before getting up and out of sight, disappearing into the forest. She flies over and once appearing beside the deer, a katakan emerges from a cluster of trees, immediately crouching and hissing at her. Lora squints her eyes at the lower vampire. The two begin to slowly circle one another, the katakan letting out more hisses and growls as Lora every now and then bears her teeth with a deep growl. However, instead of showing her dominance over the lower being, she begins thinking about the situation.

 _You’re not even all that thirsty…_ she thinks and decides to disappear and fly off into the woods, feeling a bit of harm to her pride. _I could’ve taken him… ah fuck it all._

She flies across the river and appears in a nearby vineyard and decides to walk to the inn that sits up higher than the river and is beside the bridge she had seen the two familiar silhouettes on. Walking inside the inn, she finds groups of mortals all sitting around and conversing amongst themselves as a bard plays for some people in the corner. Taking a moment, she collects herself before walking up to the counter.

_Order something… you can do this. Mortal language, not your own._

Standing at the counter, the old elf woman has her back turned to her as Lora stands there and waits for the elf to turn around. Once noticing Lora’s presence, the woman turns around and looks at her. Wrinkles and lines litter her face, her gray hair falling to her shoulders in light waves. Her eyes are tired, her face showing an expression of annoyance. 

“What can I get ya?” The old woman asks.

“What kind of food do you serve here?” Lora responds with a question, noticing the subtle twitchers on the old elf’s face, hearing the softest groan in the woman's voice. “I am not from around here and just wanted to know what you served.” The entire conversation is extremely unpleasant as Lora attempts to order something, but inevitably decides to just leave, but then gets an idea she can most definitely get behind. 

She finds a nice spot in a tree nearby and disappears from sight as she focuses on the door of the inn. Lora stays in that very spot for hours, well past sunset as she watches the old elf woman leave and turn away from the bridge, heading somewhat towards her location. 

_Perfect_ , she thinks to herself as she flies out of the tree and hovers for a while and follows the woman for a while. Lora finds that they are getting further away from the public eye and realizes the old woman is headed up a hill towards a small hut. _Must be her home._ Lora flies up ahead and through an open window, flying through the house and noticing the lack of people inside. 

Watching from inside, she watches the elf woman walk up to the front door. 

The door opens and the old woman walks inside, and shuts the door behind her as she walks over to a table on the other side of the main room. Lora reappears and allows herself to drop her current form and take on her more vampiric form. 

Her eyes turn completely to a deep purple color.   
Her features become more intense and more lines across her face.   
Her ears become much bigger and more bat-like.   
Her teeth extend, two large fangs growing out of her mouth.

Lora slowly and quietly stalks the old woman and within a few seconds, she shoots forward and grasps the woman from behind, grasping her neck with one hand, wrapping her other arm around the woman's body. Before the woman can make any noise, Lora sinks her teeth into the crock of the woman's neck.

Lora relishes in the euphoric feeling of the thick liquid sliding down her throat, the scent of the elf woman's blood hitting her nostrils and completely enveloping the vampire. She takes the time and drains the woman completely before letting her body go, the woman dropping to the ground with a thud. Blood drips from Lora’s mouth down her chin as she sits down against the nearest wall, leaning her head back against it, shutting her eyes.

Once she shuts her eyes, she finds that she begins to get extremely cold. _Weird… I wonder…_ she thinks to herself and is immediately concerned when her vision gets blurry, seeing spots where the light in the room is. After a while, she begins to hear an extremely faint voice which she is able to at least pinpoint that is a male voice. However, it is so faint and distant, she isn’t able to make out anything it says.

The voice completely disappears from her ears, her eyes returning to their normal state. Immediately, she gets the sense of her being watched, making her immediately disappear from sight and lose her corporeal form. Once she does this, the feeling goes away.

_Ah hell… what the fuck was that?!_

Looking once at the dead elf woman on the ground, she decides to fly out and leave the house, deciding on flying back to the inn and picking up the trail of the other vampire she met along with his mate. 

_Odd, I wonder why he doesn’t mask his scent… unless he can’t?_ From there on, she follows the scent, then eventually finds them, staying downwind and masking her own scent from Regis just in case he notices her following them. 

And that is all she does at the moment.  
Follow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I hope you enjoyed reading, and please let me know if you find any errors that I may have missed as this was not beta-read.  
> Current posting schedule - Every Thursday
> 
> Special thanks for this installment: gharashambles/silenceisaweapon, awkward-turtles-world, mackallackattack, herbalina-of-yesteryear/littleherbalina - Thank you all for listening to my absolute nonsense at all hours of the day and night <3


	3. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saska and Regis truly now begin their adventure in attempting to find Dettlaff, running into not only one higher being, but two...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.
> 
> This chapter will have a number of quick flashbacks, shown in the form of line breaks and italicized text.

Coming across a small stable at the edge of Toussaint, both Saska and Regis decide to take a look at least and see if they can manage to get a horse for their trip. Walking down the path, they pass through the opened gate and walk into a circular courtyard, a number of horses in their stalls along with a young woman tending to one of them. Noticing the pair walk up, she greets them with a smile. 

“Ah, good afternoon. Can I help you both with something? Looking for a horse?” The woman asks as Saska approaches first, Regis looking around at a distance, attempting to see if there is one horse that doesn’t back away from him. 

“Yes, actually. We’re going on a bit of a trip and could end up being a long one. I was wondering if your horses are to rent or to buy outright.”

“Either or, but our stables here typically are to buy a horse outright but we can always work something out if you have enough coin.” The woman looks off to the right and sees Regis in front of an all black horse as it nuzzles his neck. “It appears one of them already likes your friend here.” Saska and the stable owner walk over to where Regis is as the woman continues to speak to the pair. 

“This one here is my oldest mare named Dhu Lionors. ” Saska looks at the horse then at the woman, surprised at the name.

“Dhu Lionors,” Saska begins, “an Elder Speech name?” 

“Yes ma’am, from her previous owner. An old woman that passed away, hm… about five years ago now. This old girl lost her sense of smell, but still has her hearing. And definitely an interesting personality.” The two women watch as Regis just gives up and allows the horse to play with his hair. Regis looks at Saska then at the stable owner before speaking to her.

“How much would this mare be, perhaps with an added saddle and bags as well?” Regis asks, the stable owner thinking for a moment.

“Seeing as though how much she’s taken to you sir, 300 to own. Saddle bags and saddle included in that.” Both Saska and Regis dig into their pockets, coming up with the money. They hand it over to the woman, the owner walking into the mare’s stall getting her set up to leave. 

Saska takes the time and walks over to the horse and it immediately stops trying to munch Regis’s hair and looks at her curiously. She approaches the mare holding up her hand and the horse leans down nudging it. As Saska pets the horse, Regis leans in, speaking quietly.

“Talk about sheer luck.”

“You’re telling me. Gorgeous mare too. Reminds me of the horse I used to have back in Temeria. Gorgeous with a funny personality.” Saska says smiling, getting lost in her thoughts about the way things used to be back as Queen in Temeria, and eventually the stable owner finishes, walking back out and handing over the lead to Saska.

“And she’s all yours! I wish you both luck on your travels.” The pair bids the woman farewell and leaves, Saska holding onto the lead connected to the horse's bridle, leading the mare away from the stables. Eventually, Saska steps up and sits on top of the horse, Regis traveling by foot for the time being.

For the next few days, they travel mainly by foot, following Dettlaff’s trail. They swap positions, Saska traveling on their mare while Regis scouts ahead, and then Regis riding the horse sometimes as well. Luckily, they never lose Dettlaff’s trail which is most definitely a plus with how far South they are currently heading. 

Once through the Arnell Mountains, the pair continues on and after the course of most of a day, stumbles across a small town, decorated with fairy lights and flower garland. Regis, turning to Saska who is on top of their horse and goes to speak. 

“Why don’t we stay here at least for the night.” Regis suggests as Saska stops the horse. 

“Definitely. And maybe another day or two. Give us a break but especially to give this girl a break.” Saska says patting the horses side as they turn into the town. 

It's a relatively small town, but it is more decorated as you go further in. The pair hear from passers by that there is a festival starting tonight after sundown once all the lights come on. However, as they walk through town, heading towards the inn, fixates on a scene to her right. 

What she sees is a young girl walking out of a small building with a stack of books in her hand, looking up at an older woman in the doorway. “Thank you so much, ma’am! I can’t wait to read all of these!”

“Make sure to come back and tell me all about them. And tell me if you eventually manage some of those spells in that top book. “

“I will!”

Saska can hear Regis going on and on about something, but she blocks him out as she begins to get lost inside her mind, that one interaction with the woman and young girl triggering a very deep memory for her.

* * *

_Saska, sitting in the large, regal library of the Temerian Castle, sits on top of a lush carpet surrounded by piles of books. Fionna runs into the room and over to her mother._

_“Well there you are!” Saska says, Fiona jumping into her arms. “Where’s your father?”_

_“He had an emergency meeting.”_

_“Hm… that’s a shame…” Saska says a tad disappointed but immediately puts on a happy face, looking at her young daughter, “Guess what.”_

_“What?”_

_“Pick a book to start with.”_

_Fiona, getting extremely excited, looks around her. “Ooo! Oo um… um… uh… that one!” She points at a large book on top of one of the piles. Saska grabs it._

_“Oooooo good choice, little one.” Saska says as she opens it up, Fiona getting comfy in her mother's lap, “This is a really old spellbook. Some of the spells even come from the mages from where I’m from.”_

_“I wanna learn!”_

_“You… want to learn magic?” Saska asks, getting a tad excited herself._

_“Yes, please! I promise I’ll be safe!”_

_“… Well, we should start from the beginning then!”_

* * *

Once they reach the inn, they tie their horse to one of the posts outside near the trough and walk inside to grab some food and rent a room for the night. Regis, the entire time, can sense that there is something off about Saska as they converse and eat. 

Regis can sense that over the course of those few hours, Saska has been a bit distant, not really talking or engaging with him like she normally does. He then decides to focus in on her a bit more, sensing her heartbeat spike a few times before relaxing. And whenever it does spike, he notices she’s looking off in a different direction.

* * *

_Hm… must be looking at something specific… strange…_ Regis thinks to himself, trying to figure out what’s going on with his mate. Saska on the other hand, is deep in thought as another memory comes forward…

_Amavet swings his wooden practice sword and hits the dummy out in the fields. What he doesn’t know is that Saska is nearby and watching. A few more hits land on the dummy but they wobble a little, the sword almost coming out of his hand. Seeing her son getting a little frustrated, she comes over and joins him._

_“Need some help?” She asks as he looks at her summoning a sword similar in size to his with a simple spell. “See this? Grip the hilt tight. Strong. But not too tight to where you’re straining.” She helps him position his fingers on his sword properly. “There you go. Just like that.”_

_Standing up, she watches as Amavet goes back in front of the dummy and is able to land a few solid and strong swings against it. A huge smile appears on his face before coming over and giving her a big hug around her legs._

_“Thank you mother!”_

_“You’re very welcome. Now come along. Dinner is about to be ready.”_

* * *

Saska now is feeling a bit overwhelmed, and she can see the very obvious looks she has been getting from Regis. She can safely assume that he’s noticed how spacey she’s being. But the minute they get back to their rented room in the inn, she can’t help but think about her third child after thinking of the other two earlier.

* * *

_Saska, sitting outside on a balcony, has a book in her lap, a cup of tea in her hand. A light breeze is felt as the door to the balcony opens up behind her._

_“There you are mother,” Adela begins, “I was wondering where you were.”_

_“Good morning, Adela. Did you sleep well?” Saska responds._

_“I did, definitely. I was… wondering if I could ask you something.” Sitting down across from her mother, Saska notices Adela looking a bit uncomfortable._

_“Of course.” Saska responds, shutting her book giving her daughter the utmost attention._

_“Well… you’ve obviously heard of the plague, and… “I want to go off and try and help. I feel confident enough in myself and what I can do and was wondering if I had your blessing to go.”_

_Saska feels a bit nervous of the idea, but is almost immediately filled with pride at the notion of her daughter wanting to help wherever possible with the plague. “Of course you do. A bit scary of course. But I know you will do great things.”_

* * *

Regis and Saska begin to get situated for the night in their room on opposite sides, using some side tables to set their things down. Regis begins by removing his overcoat and setting down his satchel leaving him in his shirt, pants and boots as Saska begins to remove her overcoat and belt, leaving her in her undershirt, leggings and boots. The air is silent between them, that is, until Regis just has to begin the conversation. “

“… Love, is there something wrong? You’ve been more, hm… I suppose distant is the proper word to use.” Saska sighs, Regis continuing, “You know you can talk to me about anything.”

“I know. It’s just…” she hesitates for a moment, “I haven’t thought about my children in a while.” Regis immediately looks over at her as she leans her hands on the table in front of her. “You know when you look at something, it could be the most normal, mundane thing… and it just takes you back to something?”

“I do.”

“Like, a young girl picking up books from a store and being excited to learn… a young boy learning how to use a little tiny sword…” As she trails off, Regis comes over to her and leans against the wall beside her beginning to rub her back.

“Your children then.”

“You are so damn perceptive.”

“I’ve noticed with you, that nothing really phases you too much anymore. Not like this. Not with how long I’ve noticed you acting a bit strangely. Those few things that continuously affect you this much typically is anything dealing with your children, what had happened at Stygga, and what happened with the whole Eredin debacle.” Regis takes a moment before continuing, “Those last two… the last one specifically bothers me the most- but I digress. It is normal to have memories from the past, however painful they are. It is normal.”

Saska looks over at Regis and can’t find but be a little confused at a part of his statement. She gathers her thoughts for a moment before responding to him.

“What happened to me affects you more than what happened at Stygga? Well not in, let’s say a physical sense but…” Saska responds trailing off a bit.

“... Of course it did.” Regis responds to her, a little confused himself. “Saska, love, I thought I lost you. You were gone, there was no scent to follow to try and find you. And then finding you like that…” Saska steps to the side and immediately embraces him in a tight hug, resting her face against his chest. Regis wraps his arms around her torso, one hand resting on her back as the other comes up to rest on the back of her head. He hears her mumble something, which makes him look down at her, separating just enough to see her face. “What was that, love?”

“Why me?” She pauses for a second. “You could’ve settled down and found someone more close to home for you. Someone who… would’ve been able to live out the rest of time with you.”

“Want to know the truth?” She nods her head yes, Regis continuing. “I didn’t care if you were immortal. I still don’t. As long as I can have you by my side for as long as possible, that is all I need.” A blush appears on her face as he leans down and kisses her deeply, Saska reciprocating. Once they separate, they stay like this for a while, standing in each other’s embrace before Regis gets an idea to bring up the mood a bit.

“You know, if we hurry, we could enjoy tonight's festivities before they end for the night.”

“Oh, that’s right! There is a festival… well, let’s get ready then. Have a little bit of fun.” 

Separating, Regis smooths out his shirt, rolling the sleeves up to his forearms as Saska fixes her clothes, brushing her hair out before the pair leaves their rented room, down through the tavern, and outside where the festival is in full swing. 

Music is being played as people dance around, eat and talk amongst themselves. Regis and Saska walk hand in hand through the streets and eventually find a dance floor with a stage on one side, a band of a few musicians playing fast music. A number of people are dancing in the center, some leaving and joining the crowd every now and then. 

Regis looks down at Saska and can’t help but get a little flustered. The way the fairy lights illuminate her face, making her eyes sparkle an even brighter green. The breeze lightly blows through her hair, making her look almost ethereal. 

Grasping her hand tighter, Regis pulls her onto the dance floor as the song changes to something more upbeat. They dance together, swaying back and forth, Regis occasionally spinning Saska during the song. Once the song ends, the musicians begin playing something a bit more, sensual. Regis smiles before closing the difference between the two of them wrapping an arm around her body, the other holding her hand up.

Regis leads in the tango, a few others joining in to dance as they both glide across the dancefloor. Regis lets her waist go, spinning her out, still having grasp on her hand as he brings her back into his arms. The music stays at the same tempo, both of them losing themselves in the dance and when Regis spins her completely out of his arms and Saska stops at the edge of the crowd watching. She stops right in front of a man, immediately peaking her interest for how different he looks compared to the rest of the crowd.

Time stands still, quite literally as she looks at this man.  
Bald, very light stubble on his head and face  
A bit more tan compared to the rest of the crowd  
Eyes almost gold in color  
Brown leather collar on top of a yellow shirt  
Three blue stripes on the upper parts and lower part of the sleeves  
Fingerless gloves covering his hands

He grins before clapping his hands together, time resuming as Regis grasps her hand, pulling her back into the dance. As Regis leads her through the tango once more, she occasionally tries to get another look at the man, but he seemingly has vanished. 

Turning her head back at Regis, the song begins to end as she wraps a leg around his waist before he dips her backwards, holding her there for a moment. It isn’t too long into the night that they make their way back to their room at the inn, hand in hand.

* * *

The next morning, Regis opens his eyes, light beginning to stream through the window. Lying in the bed on his side, he’s looking directly at Saska who is sound asleep beside him facing him. After a good portion of time, the sunlight moves, indicating it rising which makes the light hit Saska’s eyes. She stirs awake, looking at Regis while yawning.

“Mlach thesan.” Regis says in a soft voice, speaking to her in his native tongue.

“Good morning to you too.” She responds stretching a little before sitting up, the blanket censoring her perfectly. 

“I am surprised you are up as early as you are. We had quite the night.”

“That we did. But, we should get ready. Maybe grab some food before we head back out.” 

The pair get dressed in their clothes, helping one another find their clothes that they threw off from the night before. All the while Regis steals a number of kisses from Saska. Collecting their things, they both leave the room to hand in the room key before grabbing some food before heading out to the small stables. 

They pick up their horse companion, and once out and away from the stables, Saska leading the horse, Regis picks up Dettlaff’s scent again, but another vampire’s scent also hits his nostrils. A very specific scent of a very specific vampire he had met just recently. He looks around the area, attempting to locate the vampire, Saska questioning him.

“What are you looking around for?” And that is when Regis nods off towards the entrance to the town, showing the woman he had met by Count de la Croix’s mill, Lora. Saska looks off in her direction as Lora nods her head towards the pair. “Well this is most definitely interesting.” As they pair along with the horse to walk towards the entrance to the town, Regis speaks to Saska. 

“She doesn’t seem to be a threat to us personally, but keep your wits about you.”

“Aye aye captain.”

The group makes their way out of the town and realize Lora has moved across the path to lean up against one of the trees, keeping plenty of distance between herself and the two people and horse.

“Well, this is certainly an interesting coincidence.” Regis says, Lora responding to him. 

“Our meeting is anything but a coincidence. I…” Lora hesitates, “have been following you for some time.”

“Following us?” Regis asks, Saska noticing how he somewhat steps in front of her, in a more protective stance, “I believe you should explain yourself then.” Regis responds, obviously appearing a little perturbed, Lora beginning to explain. 

“Ever since our meeting I’ve been… attempting to stop drinking as much as I usually do. Learning to see how I could maybe assimilate into your culture.” She begins, motioning to Saska. “I’ve been watching how you operate, especially you, Regis. It’s… both intriguing and impressive to me.” She pauses. “I know you’re looking for another of our kind. A… friend of yours it seems. I wish to offer my help.”

“How could you possibly help us?”

“Another pair of eyes is always better. Especially when you wish to keep your mate safe who... no doubt doesn’t have similar abilities to ours. I can be another set of eyes in the sky. I’m quite quick.”

Regis thinks long and hard, looking over at Saska who gives him a soft, but a little nervous smile. “What do you think, Regis? I wouldn’t mind having a woman traveling with us for once.” This makes Lora smile as Saska looks at her, Regis replying to her.

“I... suppose it wouldn’t hurt, but I would assume you wish something from us if you are offering assistance.”

“Your help in stopping my drinking of blood. And assimilation.”

“Hm… I… could be a help with that.” Regis looks to Saska, Saska offering Lora a soft smile. 

“Definitely,” Saska begins, “Especially if we can help you in any way.” Lora smiles for a moment before Regis speaks again.

“We are leaving town now so if you are ready, you can come with us.” He can see her the entire time he talks, eyeing their horse. “Ah, our mare should be alright with you. She has no sense of smell.”

“She cannot… sense us?”

“That is correct.” Regis pauses. “Would you… like to pet her?”

“I… will refrain for now. Thank you.”

Deciding to drop the topic, the trio begin their trip out of town.   
Two vampires and an Elder Blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dhu Lionors is translated roughly to "Black Lioness" in Elder Speech.  
> Mlach thesan is translated roughly to "Good morning" in Etruscan which i what I am using for the vampiric language.  
> \-----  
> As always I hope you enjoyed reading, and please let me know if you find any errors that I may have missed as this was not beta-read.  
> Current posting schedule - Every Thursday
> 
> Special thanks for this installment: gharashambles/silenceisaweapon, awkward-turtles-world, mackallackattack, herbalina-of-yesteryear/littleherbalina - Thank you all for listening to my absolute nonsense at all hours of the day and night <3


	4. My Flesh and Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, we get a deeper dive into Lora and her character, getting a closer look including a flashback into her long life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.  
> \-----  
> WARNINGS! - There will be a rather clear demonstration/writing of scarification taking place. I wanted to dwelve into the idea seeing as though we see the Unseen Elder in The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine DLC with scars in rather purposeful designs and places. If that makes you uncomfortable at all, you will see a horizontal line followed by italicized text indicating a flashback. Once you see the second line and the text return to normal, that is where the flashback ends.

For the first day of travel, the three talk to one another, Regis and Saska introducing themselves, who they are, and where they’re from. However, both can very clearly tell Lora is a bit uncomfortable so they decide to keep their questions for her to themselves for the time being. That is until Regis notices the Tdet vampire tribe’s insignia in the form of a pendant hanging from her belt.

“You are from the Tdet tribe?” Regis questions, Lora nodding her head.

“I am.”

“I was not aware of any Tdet left this far West. But I do suppose there are always outliers that travel separate from everyone else.” While the two converse, Lora learning Regis belongs to the tribe Gharasham. Saska glances over at them seeing that Lora seems to get a bit more nervous looking when Regis brings up the Tdet tribe more and more. She decides it best to jump into the conversation to diverge the conversation to make Lora a bit more comfortable.

“Lora, I absolutely love your cloak. Where did you get it?” Lora looks up at Saska who is smiling down at her, in her head thanking her for diverging the conversation.

“It’s been a while, unfortunately I don’t remember.” Lora pauses, before continuing. “So, let me get this straight. You are an ex Queen and Elder Blood, and you’re one of my kind who at one point had a drinking problem? And you both are together. Romantically.” Lora asks as she walks beside the horse and Regis, Saska riding the horse. 

“Putting it simply, yes.” Saska responds, “Pretty weird sounding when you put it like that.”

“To be fair, our relationship is nothing but simple my dear.” Regis responds, continuing, “Most definitely interesting, but certainly not simple… I’m digging myself a larger hole the more time I talk, aren’t I.” 

“You always do, love.” Saska responds.

Lora continuously hears the cawing of birds, a flock of black ravens seemingly following them for hours. Watching the birds, Regis notices her curiosity and explains, “Those are my watchers.”

“ _ Your _ watchers? Like… the birds belong to you?” Lora asks, a bit confused but intrigued by the concept. 

“Technically? They could be considered more like friends of mine. They follow me, listen to instruction, and I can speak to them. It’s one of the abilities I have.”

“I had a few friends back home that could speak to beasts… strange to me of course, not being able to do it. But they listen to you?”

“Yes, quite handy to have around.”

Lora finds during their first portion of their trip, that Regis and Saska are quite pleasant to be around. A bit weird to be around one of her kind after all these centuries of hiding away, but still, somewhat pleasant. She definitely is appreciative of the two of them to not ask too many personal questions.

That night, they come across a small village, thankfully with a few rooms in the inn available to rent. Turning into town, Saska hops off the horse and leads it with the other two, tying it up outside the inn, paying one of the innkeeps for the horse to have some hay and fruit as they walk inside. 

Regis is the first to speak to the man behind the counter. “Good evening, I had heard from one of the workers outside that you had some vacancies.”

“Aye, we do. How many rooms are you looking to rent?”

“One for my companion and I, one for my friend here.” he responds, Saska and Lora closeby behind him.

“Alright, that’ll be ten florens for each room.” Regis goes to take out twenty florens, but Lora beats him to it, and hands the man ten for her room. Regis notices, he then instead takes out ten florens. Taking the keys to the rooms, they head upstairs following the innkeepers directions to their rooms. 

“If you need anything during the night, just knock. I will be awake.” Regis says to Lora as she unlocks the door with the key. 

“Thank you, Regis. Goodnight to you both.”

“Goodnight!” Saska responds from inside her and Regis room, setting her things down. Regis comes in, shutting and locking the door behind him, and once he hears the door across the hall shut, indicating Lora is in her room, he speaks to Saska as she begins removing her belt and overcoat.

“What do you think about her so far?” Regis asks, going over to sit on the bed to remove his shoes and setting his satchel down.

“Lora? Seems pretty nice. I don’t have a reason to distrust her if that is what you’re asking.” Saska responds, and falls backward onto the bed, Regis laying back beside her, propping himself up on his elbow. “She reminds me of Dettlaff. More distant though... How do you feel about her?”

“Well, she definitely is uncomfortable being around others. I’m just waiting for a knock at our door tonight to ask for assistance. I would assume she would drink blood rather regularly to become somewhat addicted to it.” Regis goes on and on for a while, “I’m… unsure… there’s just something about her that rubs me a weird way, something-.” 

“What do you think her true form looks like?” Regis stops, looking down at Saska who looks up at him with curiosity in her eyes. “What? Like you haven’t thought about it.”

“No, in fact I’ve been more worried about a vampire who has an addiction to blood around my mortal mate.”

“... So you really don’t think about what other vampires look like?”

“Not often, no. But you could probably ask Lora if you’re so curious. She seems to like you. Judging by her body language and the way she acts when she talks to you specifically makes me believe she’s a bit more comfortable with you than me.”

“Yeah? I wonder why that is.”

“I wouldn’t ask her about that though. It may be a sensitive subject.”

“Speaking of sensitive subjects, maybe don’t bring up the whole tribe thing. She seemed to get uncomfortable when you brought it up.” Saska mentions to him, Regis looking at her curiously.

“Hm, yes I suppose it isn’t necessary to bring up.”

“How’s Dettlaff’s trail? Still strong?”

“Yes, in fact it seems to be getting stronger the more we travel. Which is always a good sign.”

“Good, good.” Saska yawns as she looks up at Regis. “Move a little,” she says patting his side, “I’m gonna head to bed.”

“Goodnight my love.” He responds, kissing her before she gets under the covers.

Across the hall, Lora removes her hood and cloak, leaving herself in her sleeveless shirt, pants, belts and boots. Looking to her shoulder, she runs her fingers over the circular scars going around her shoulder. 

Two rows of dots  
A large circle of those two rows of dots  
A smaller circle of the same design inside it  
Essentially a circle within a circle. 

Her mind begins to wander, going back to when she was just barely sixteen, the moment where she finally became part of the tribe, finishing her rite of passage...

* * *

_ Inside her quarters in her family's home, Lora prepares as she dresses in a shirt with no sleeves and as backless as possible at her parents' request. She can’t help but wonder what they have designed for her for her tribe scars. She gets a little excited and a tad nervous at the thought of it. She lights a number of candles around the room before setting up two chairs, the chairs facing one another beside the large windows along the one wall.  _

_ As she finishes, she hears a knock at the door. “Come in!” Turning around, she watches as her father walks inside along with a tray of a number of tools, the door shutting behind him. Lora pulls a small table beside the chairs allowing him to set the tray down. “I thought mother would be doing this.” She says to him. _

_ “Your mother and I both agreed that I have a steadier hand. I… hope you are not disappointed.” _

_ “Not at all, father.” She responds smiling up at him before sitting down backwards on one of the chairs, leaning her chest and resting her arms on the back of the chair as her father sits down in the other one behind her.  _

_ “Are you ready?” He asks, Lora responding. _

_ “I am.”  _

_ “Good. Now stay still, and resist the urge to heal the wounds until I say so.” _

_ For the rest of the night, the pair sit in their current positions as her father begins the final step of becoming part of their tribe.  _

_ Scarification.  _

_ He begins by creating two circles of dots around both shoulders, creating another smaller circle of dots inside both. He creates a more organic wave design of two rows of dots, connecting the scars now on her shoulders. Once done with those, he begins the design down the center of her back.  _

_ Every cut her father makes, she feels it, reveals in the feeling even. The scent of her blood fills the room, Lora focusing on everything that is stimulating her senses.  _

_ Once finished, he sits back and wipes away any blood that had dripped down her back with a rag before speaking to his daughter. “You may heal. There is one last one I wish to give you but I need you to turn around.” He watches as the wounds heal in front of him, leaving indented bumps where he carved into her skin. Turning around, she faces him in the chair as he holds out his hand. “Give me your arm.” She holds out her left arm and her father takes it, turns it over and braces it. Picking up another tool he began to carve into her skin.  _

_ “My father gave me a phrase, something he always wanted me to remember. So did his father before him, and his father before him. And now, I will do the same… mini terma icac cuth.” He says, carving the phrase into her arm. Once done, she heals it at his command.  _

_ Setting the sharp object down, he stands, Lora following suit. She looks up at her father who has a soft smile on his face before leaning down, touching his forehead against hers. They each place a hand on the back of each other's heads. _

_ “I’m so proud of you… Come. Let’s show your mother.” _

* * *

Lora, coming back to reality, decides to pick her cloak and hood back up, putting it back on to ignore the scars on her shoulders, still wishing she could see the ones on her back. The only times she saw them was in a drawing her father drew up to allow her to see the design without the use of mirrors.

For the rest of the night, she finds that she does not feel the need to drink, but does daydream for a while, that is until she notices the sun rising, light shining through the window of her room. Lora joins Saska and Regis downstairs in grabbing some food before leaving the small town. 

“Regis?” Lora asks. “I am going to scout ahead for a little bit.” 

“Not a problem. Stay safe.” He says and she walks out of sight into the trees before disappearing, flying into the sky to make sure no one saw her transform. She flies up and down the path, keeping an eye out for anything weird. What she does find is that she is joined by a number of ravens flying through the sky. 

_ Ah, yes, I had forgotten about Regis’s… friends.  _

Thinking it is still very interesting that he essentially has a pack of raven’s, she finds that there is a bear in a clearing just off the path. Circling around, she eyes it up, realizing how long it has been since a drink. 

_ This will be easy… actually… no, Lora. You don’t need this, just go back and tell them what you found. _

She decides to not indulge in a drink and instead, flying back to Saska and Regis, she reappears off the path, emerging from the trees. Her friends looked at her with smiles, Saska asking, “How was the flight?”

“Perfectly fine. But there is a bear up ahead off to the left of the path.”

“A bear? Not a problem.” Lora looks at Saska a little confused as they continue down the path, Lora pointing out when they get close to where she saw the bear. Saska hops off the horse, and walks a little ahead of the pair, Lora signaling when she can smell the bear getting closer. 

The bear comes across the path up ahead, turning its head and looking at the group, growling a bit. Saska hands the reins connected to the horse to Regis before slowly walking ahead. Lora follows closely behind, extremely confused at why this mortal is being so reckless at the moment. So much so that she looks at Regis.

“You’re just going to-.” Regis holds a hand up, stopping Lora from talking.

“Not a worry. Just watch.”

Lora looks back at Saska and watches as a soft glow of light blue light appears in the palms of her hands. She mumbles something in a language Lora doesn’t understand.

“Va aep te creasa…” Once Saska finishes mumbling, she holds her hands out towards the bear, the bear immediately looking at her before turning around and going back the way he came from. Saska relaxes her stance as the bear leaves, Lora and Regis joining her. Regis holds onto the horse's reins, petting it’s face after sensing its discomfort from the bear being so close. Lora immediately turns to look at Saska, watching as the bear disappears into the forest. 

“How… I thought you would have killed it.” Lora says, Saska walking over to pet the horse as well as it nuzzles into her neck. 

“Not everything needs violence to be solved. Especially with animals. We’re in their world right now, being in this forest. So, instead of killing it with a spell, I figured I’d put a short term spell over its mind telling it to go back home.”

“And it’ll listen to you?” Lora asks, still getting used to spells and magic as a concept.

“Yep! But we should keep going. It’s a short spell so there is that chance of the bear coming back here.” The trio continue on down the path, Lora asking another question.

“What was that language you spoke? I don’t believe I’ve heard a tongue like that before.”

“My native tongue. Elder speech. What I said roughly translates to ‘go back home’. Something similar to that.”

“Elder Speech… it sounds quite beautiful. Is that a language from a certain place?”

“It is actually! Tir na Lia is where I’m from. It’s a separate world from this one here. Where the Aen Elle elves are from.” 

This makes Lora quite interested.  _ She isn’t from this world… _ she thinks to herself,  _ something that we have in common then. Should I bring it up? No… no keep it to yourself for now. _

“Actually,” Saska begins, “I do have a question for you, nothing serious, just something poking at my brain.” Lora nods at her, getting extremely nervous. “So, Regis I know has a more ‘vampiric form’, so does our friend we’re looking for. Do you… do you have one?”

Lora is extremely relieved and somewhat humored by the question. 

“I…” she smiles, “Yes actually. It’s a rather large bat. Dark fur with grey in it. And my eyes are a similar hue from what I’ve been told.”

“Ah that’s so freaking cool!”

As they continue down the path, the three continue to converse, Regis talking specifically to Lora. “How are you feeling today, Lora? Any… urges today?”

“I was thinking about going after the bear when I found it, but I also never really travel in a group like this so that is pure instinct.”

“I am certainly glad you did so. Showing that restraint and willingness to push against instinct is fantastic.” Regis responds to her, patting her once on the back, watching as Lora smiles a little. 

The trio travels for the rest of the day, until the sunsets and the moon rises high in the sky. The air gets chillier as the trio agrees to camp for the night, mainly because of Saska needing to get at least a little bit of sleep. Regis’s ravens find a nice little clearing against the edge of a large lake to set up camp at, all the ravens perching themselves all in the trees above. Saska leads the horse to the edge of the lake, the horse taking a drink as Regis announces he is going to fly around to make sure the area is safe, and to scout ahead to see if Dettlaff’s trail is still strong.

Once he disappears, Lora sits down by the small fire he lit, watching Saska for a while before she ties the horse up, coming over and joining the vampiress by the fire. “Feels good to be sitting down again.” Saska begins, looking up at the sky, “Hopefully we’re getting closer to finding Dettlaff. It’ll be nice to see him again.”

“You both seem like you care a lot about him.” Lora responds, Saska nodding her head.

“We do. I know we gave you an overview on who we are, and who Dettlaff is. But I can give you a bit more insight.” Lora nods her head, immediately sitting up a little as she listens a bit more intently. “Dettlaff is Regis’s blood brother-.”

“Oh you don’t need to explain more. I completely understand. I… have known a number of people where I am from that had blood bonds. What happened to make them enter one?”

Saska hesitates before explaining, something Lora notices in the change in her heart rate. “We were in a fight with a monster… he… absolutely destroyed Regis. Turned him into a smear on the ground. Once the fight was over, Dettlaff eventually showed up. Threatened me first, but helped Regis return back to health. It took… months for him to get Regis to the point where he was somewhat alright. Where he had a corporeal shell again.”

“You… don’t need to explain anymore. I can tell it’s a… rough subject for you to speak of.” The air between the two is silent for a while before Lora decides to change the subject. “I haven’t told you much about me… I have a brother.”

“Really? What’s he like?”

“Well, I was already well into adulthood when he was born. But he was always… so kind… like you, actually.” Saska smiles as Lora continues, “very kind man. Always looking out for me.” She pauses, hesitating a moment, “But we parted soon after he became well enough to leave the nest.”

“Have you seen him since then?” Lora shakes her head no, Saska pausing a moment before asking another question. “... Have you ever thought about looking for him?”

“To be perfectly honest? No. Regis may have told you how vampires kind of… live on our own away from family for some time.” Saska nods her head. “I never thought about it, not until recently… Being here with you both trying to find your friend… it’s given me some thoughts about it.”

“Well, I bet he’s doing just fine out there on his own.” Saska responds in a cheerful tone, Lora smiling a little as she stares into the fire. “You’ll find him again. I’m sure of it.”

“He would always say similar things… always looking on the brightside…”

Lora focuses on the fire, something to take her mind off of her brother, but that is when she realizes she can feel something almost poking at her mind, similar to back when she had drained that old elf woman dry in Toussaint. Her vision starts to go blurry, only able to make out the shapes the fire is making, an extremely cold breeze hitting her body. A male voice can be heard echoing through her head, and as it gets louder, she realizes it is a man's voice. 

And that she recognizes it.    
A voice that she has not heard in over a millennium, but one she will never forget.

_ “Loralai… mini terma icac cuth.” _

Immediately, she pushes the voice out of her mind, coming back to the real world. 

_ It can’t be… he can’t be alive and well… perhaps- no. No he can’t be this close to me to talk telepathically. _

This is the moment she notices Saska looking at her, a worried expression on her face. “Are you alright? Looks like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Yes I’m… I’m fine. Just thinking about things…”

“Well, if you ever want to talk, my ears are always open.”

Sooner rather than later, Saska bids Lora goodnight as she falls asleep against the tree she had been sitting under, a few of the ravens flying down and hopping over to her and curling into her falling asleep as well. Lora watches them, watches as these birds seemingly feel so comfortable with someone to where they treat her like one of their own. Joining her in her slumber. She begins thinking of how inclusive and kind Saska has been to her, and Regis as well. How understanding that they are, specifically with not really knowing much about her. 

Especially since she has already had to lie multiple times to them.  
About her tribe, where she’s from…  
She somewhat feels bad for it now seeing at how trusting they are of her, how accepting they are.

Turning her head, Lora notices that where the horse is tied up, she is looking right at her. Lora, taking a moment to herself, stands, and begins to slowly walk over towards the horse. She can feel her nerves trying to tell her to stay back, that instinct to stay away from animals because they would immediately get uncomfortable because of her being a vampire. Once she gets closer, the horse turns her head to look more at her. Lora, hesitantly, raises her palm towards the horse, the mare immediately pushing it with her nose before rubbing her long face against Lora’s hand, making a number of various noises. 

Taking a step closer, the mare begins nuzzling into Lora, Lora becomes overwhelmed with emotion very quickly. And that is when she can sense Regis nearby. Turning back towards the campfire, she sees him standing there with a smile on his face. Lora responds with a bit of nervous but excited laughter as she begins to pet the horse a bit more. Deciding on letting Lora have some time to herself, seeing a bit of himself in her when he first was able to pet a large animal like a horse before, he sits down beside where Saska is. A raven flies down perching on his shoulder for a moment before hoping down into his lap to curl up and sleep. 

“Quite interesting creatures,” Lora begins, “They are very comfortable with you both.”

“Most definitely. That specific one really likes Saska.” He says motioning to the one in her lap, “Dare I say, he might like her more than he likes me.” This makes Lora laugh. “So, since we have a long night ahead of us, how are you feeling?”

“I feel a bit… I suppose twitchy? The urge to drink isn’t too strong but I can tell that it’s been a while, but I’ll let you know. If it gets too unbearable.”

“Good, good.”

A moment passes before Lora begins thinking out loud for a little bit. “So, let me just get this straight for my own benefit. You are over four centuries old, you are a part of Gharasham, you’ve worked as a barber-surgeon who took up herbalism and gardening, and has a mortal mate who is over three centuries old, from… Tir na Lia, and is of Elder Blood ancestry… I think I remembered everything.”

“Let me see if I remembered everything about you.” Regis begins, Lora getting slightly nervous.

“You are a part of Tdet.”  
_ Lie.  
_ “You are from East of the Zerrakanian mountain range.”  
_ Lie.  
_ “And… hm… I know I am forgetting something- ah that’s right! You have a younger brother! What is his name?”

“Kieran.”

Regis and Lora continue to idly converse for the rest of the night, Lora more and more feeling guilty of the amount of lies she has told. 

_ I have to tell them eventually. Come clean about everything… God’s when am i supposed to do this? Before we find Dettlaff? After? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mini terma icac cuth = my skin and blood  
> Kinda playing off of the "my flesh and blood" phrase  
> \-----  
> As always I hope you enjoyed reading, and please let me know if you find any errors that I may have missed as this was not beta-read.  
> Current posting schedule - Every Thursday
> 
> Special thanks for this installment: gharashambles/silenceisaweapon, awkward-turtles-world, mackallackattack, herbalina-of-yesteryear/littleherbalina - Thank you all for listening to my absolute nonsense at all hours of the day and night <3


	5. Bloodline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally we arrive in Nazair, Lora having to deal with her addiction a bit more directly as Saska finds a number of interesting characters -one she was looking for, and one she was not...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.  
> \-----  
> WARNING! - Lora is about to go full vampire killing in this chapter. If you're sensitive to animals meeting an untimely demise, is will happen in this chapter.

The following day, the group makes headway in their trip and makes it deep into Nazair, specifically arriving in the city of Muredach. Regis leads the group as they walk through the city, taking very specific turns down certain roads and paths, Dettlaff’s scent getting unbelievably strong. The two women follow Regis and for a while, they blindly follow the vampire. That is until Saska brings something up.

“Regis,” Saska begins, “are we going in circles?”

“It appears so. He must have spent a good amount of time here. Or, could still be here.” The trio decides to take a seat down on a nearby bench. “Should we stay in town for now? Journey around? See if we can get any intel from anyone?”

“Sounds good to me.” Saska responds, Lora also nodding her head in agreement.

Lora, sitting there on the bench, gets a very strong whiff of a smell that makes her want to immediately fly off. 

_ Blood… _ She thinks as she turns her head and sees a man walking into a building, a bloody gash across his arm. She attempts to get her mind off of the smell, but it only makes her realize she’s gone a while without having a drink. Saska, seeing as though she is sitting in between Regis and Lora, notices how tense Lora gets beside her.

Looking at her, Saska asks, “Are you feeling alright?” This question makes Regis turn and look at Lora, seeing how uncomfortable she is getting, asking a question of his own.

“Would you like to get out of here for a moment?” Regis asks, “I can accompany you.” Lora nods her head.

“I believe that would be best.” She responds standing up, Regis following suit as he looks down to speak to Saska.

“I’d say stay in town for now, love. Hopefully, we won’t be too long.”

“Of course, do what you guys need to do.”

Regis and Lora leave the area, Saska figuring that they will eventually disappear and fly away once out of sight from people. She stays seated on the bench for a short time and finds that a raven lands on the bench beside her, cawing, before flying up and perching on top of one of the buildings hanging plants.

_ Figured he’d leave a friend watching over me… might as well walk around _ .

She begins exploring the city, taking in the sights, the sounds of chatter amongst the people, and the smells of delectable smelling food and flowers. After some time, she comes across a small lake, a path circling around it leading to the rest of the city. Saska leans against the railing looking out over the crystal clear water gleaming in the sunlight. S he’s unsure how long time has passed, but she suddenly finds that a familiar voice can be heard speaking behind her.

“Saska?” Spinning around, she sees the very man she and the other two have been looking for, still clad in his long black leather coat. She can’t help but smile a little as Dettlaff looks at her with confusion littered over his face. “What has brought you all the way down here? And without Regis no less.”

“Actually,” Saska begins, Dettlaff assumes what he will hear next as he joins her against the lakeside, “He did come with me. But along the way we met another one of… you guys.” She says a bit quieter, knowing there are people walking around that could be listening. This makes Dettlaff look at her a bit more curiously. “We came across her twice and… hm… this may take a while to explain, might be best to not talk about this so in the open.”

“Follow me. I know the place we can converse.” Leading Saska through the streets, Saska asks a bit more questions.

“How have you been?” Saska asks, Dettlaff glancing at her before taking another turn down a street.

“You’ve seen the note I assume?” he inquires, Saska nodding her head yes. “I’ve been… better. I needed to leave Toussaint for a while. Clear my head.” Stepping off the path down a dirty path, Dettlaff leaves Saska to a small pond in the middle of a cluster of trees, well off the main pathway. Lucky for them, they’re completely alone. The pair find a nice log to sit down on, Dettlaff beginning. “So tell me, who is this other vampire? You’ve certainly piqued my curiosity.”

“The first time we saw her, we saw her outside of The Mill going north in Toussaint. We had heard a man talk about a monster, as he put it, feeding on a dead man. We looked into it since we were heading North at the time, and then she appeared. I teleported away but stayed in close proximity to them. Turns out it was this vampire woman who killed this guy, and told Regis that there was no reason to feed from him. That he was drank dry. But then she found out that Regis didn’t partake in drinking anymore. Soon after that she flew off.”

“I assume that wasn’t the last time you both saw her?”

“The second time, we were further south outside Toussaint. Closer to the Arnell mountains. We had stayed in a small town for a night, and when we went to leave, we saw her again. We found out she was following us, and wanted to offer her help in scouting out for you, in return Regis were to help her try and limit her blood drinking.”

Dettlaff sighs somewhat before responding, “Sounds like Regis… where is he now?”

“With her. We had just arrived in town earlier today and Lora, that’s her name, looked extremely uncomfortable. Regis went off with her and I can only assume she had an urge to drink. From what I know it’s been days, if not maybe close to a week without having a drink. Maybe even longer.”  Dettlaff only nods his head, listening intently to everything Saska had to say, but he can’t help but notice how strong Regis’s scent is on her. And it seems like it is not going away in the slightest. He takes a moment to collect his thoughts before going to ask a question that has been burning at his mind.

“Well, hopefully they return to you soon. I would love to see him again… but, can I ask a more… personal question?” He asks looking at her.

“Of course you can.”

“... Did he mark you?” Judging by the way her cheeks turn a bright red, and the smile that slowly appears on her face, he can assume the answer. “So he did…”

“It’s that obvious?”

“His scent has always lingered on you. As if he was right beside you. But now it’s much stronger,” Dettlaff pauses, “When did he do it?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I felt this tinge of… overwhelming happiness around that time and knew it wasn’t me. I had figured it was another one of Regis’s emotions pushing through.” The air is silent between the two for a while before Dettlaff speaks up again. “I don’t have any other private questions, so we should get back out onto the main path. Might make it easier for Regis to find us. I’ve put him through enough already. Explaining what happened to make me leave would be easier with everyone around to hear it.”

“Makes sense to me, but,” Saska pauses, “does everyone speak Nilfgaardian here? I don’t think I’ve heard a single other language besides us.”

“Some know common tongues, but yes, it is primarily Nilfgaardian.”

“Which is my next question. You know Nilgaardian?” This makes Dettlaff smile a little.

“Yes.” He responds, “I’ve picked up a number of languages during my lifetime.”

“Huh… learn something new everyday.”

“You know what language Regis never really picked up?” Dettlaff begins, Saska looking back up at him. “Nilfgaardian.”

“... Are you saying that we could gossip about him without him knowing?” Dettlaff simply nods his head yes. “Oh Dettlaff how I missed you.” 

* * *

Across the city, beside an abandoned hut in the middle of the woods, Lora appears first, Regis next as she goes over and leans her forehead against one of the walls, feeling the urge to try and consume her.

“Mucai…  _ shit _ ,” she curses to herself, “why is this so damn hard?” Lora asks frustratingly, Regis gathers his thoughts carefully, allowing Lora some space, before responding.

“Quitting cold turkey is extremely difficult, I fully understand what you’re feeling… may I recommend something?” Lora turns her head to look at the other vampire. “Go for animals, woodland creatures. Will it offer the same high that a human, or elf would? Not entirely. But it is a safer option.” 

Lora takes in his advice, taking some time to lean her back against the outer wall of the abandoned hut as she watches a raven fly down, perching itself on Regis’s hand as he holds it up. A few nods of his head, and the raven flies off, Regis speaking to her.

“There is a deer not too far off past that tree line behind you.” Regis says simply before the raven flies over Lora’s head and towards the direction of the deer.

Lora contemplates for a moment before disappearing and flying up into the sky to catch up with the bird, Regis following suit. Lora hovers as the raven suddenly dips down and perches on top of one of the trees. From her vantage point, Lora can see the deer feeding on the long grass and various bushes around it. 

_ Okay Lora, keep your whits. Let’s try and not drink this thing dry. _

She takes an immediate dive, reappearing to grasp the deer and pin it to the ground. Regis stays hovering above to make sure there is no one that is about to get close to Lora as she feeds. What he finds interesting, is that after less than a minute, Lora let’s the deer go, lying lifeless on the ground.

But still bleeding, not like the man he saw her originally standing over back in Toussaint.

He watches as she sits back against a tree, leaning her head back and shutting her eyes. He flies down, reappearing a few feet away from the deer allowing some space between himself and Lora. She opens her eyes to look at him, her fangs still extended, her eyes a solid deep purple color. After a moment, her fangs retract, eyes returning to their more mortal look. Regis can still see the look in her eyes, still feeling the effects of the feeding. It reminds him, and the overwhelming stench in the air, of his previous addiction. Even he has to take some time to himself to keep his whits about him.

“I… only took what I needed…” She says quietly before rubbing her eyes, feeling only a little quenched, coming down pretty quickly from the high. “We should… get away… the stench…” Regis offers her a hand which she takes, him helping her up.

The pair walk away from the deer and back the way they originally came. Regis allows Lora to be slightly ahead of him, giving her the opportunity to set the pace on how fast they get back to town. Her pacing is slow for a while, that is until she stops walking completely, rubbing her face again before turning around to look at Regis. Her vampiric features have gone to be replaced with her more mortal ones. 

Regis offers her a small smile, Lora speaking first. “I’m alright to return to town now.”

“Good, let us go… and if it means anything at all, I am proud of you. Let’s go back and find Saska.”

The pair of vampires reaches the town eventually, and the two of them start by going back to the bench they had left from. They find that Saska isn’t there, but her scent trail reveals her going deeper into town. They find that her scent is the strongest against one of the railings looking over the lake, then goes off to the left. Regis also finds that Dettlaff’s scent lingers there as well.

“Did she manage to find him first?” He questions out loud as they follow her trail. About a quarter around the lake, there is a dirt path that leads down through the forest, but her trail also leads more down the main path as well. They stop and look around, Lora responding first.

“So we have a dirt path, and the main-... hey, there she is.” Regis turns in the direction Lora points, and finds that there she is. Sitting on an outside table further around the lake. 

With Dettlaff. 

Regis smiles, keeping the urge down to smile wide, teeth exposed. They walk around the lake, and as they get closer Saska notices them and waves them over, Dettlaff turning around to see who she is waving to. Regis makes immediate eye contact with Dettlaff, Regis specifically having a moment of relief as he finally is reunited with his friend. Dettlaff, being happy to see Regis, also for a moment glances behind him and sees the woman standing behind him who walked over with him. 

_ This must be the other Saska was speaking of, _ Dettlaff thinks as he stands up to meet Regis. Saska stands as well as the two have a moment to reunite. 

“Dettlaff, it is...  _ such _ a relief to see you again my friend.” They both embrace one another tightly for some time. Dettlaff responding.

“How did I know you wouldn’t listen to my note.” Regis laughs a little, leaning back away from Dettlaff. 

“We’ve known each other for quite a long time, you should know better than to assume I’d listen to anything telling me to stay put.” Regis responds, Dettlaff smiling a little at his friend's response. This is when he looks over his shoulder at the woman standing behind Regis. Regis notices, standing beside Dettlaff. “Ah yes. I would like to introduce Lora. She has been-.” Dettlaff cuts Regis off.

“Saska filled me in. It is a pleasure to meet you, Lora.” 

“Pleasure to finally meet you as well.” She responds, finding that she cannot remove her gaze from the vampire. Taking in every single feature of his physical appearance, down to the fine lines on his face.

_ Not too bad on the eyes… _ she thinks to herself.

The four sit down at the table nearby, Regis asking plenty of questions before Dettlaff holds a hand up to him to get him to stop. “No need for your normal constant questioning. Allow me to explain.” Regis stops talking, Dettlaff continuing. “When I found you a year ago in the middle of the woods, when Saska was taken,” he glances at Saska, Saska looking at him more intently as Lora glances between the two vampires on the opposite side of the table, and at Saska as well, “I said my needs could wait. That you needed to find her first… Rhennawed also went a little distant for a while. It… took me quite a long time to figure out why.” He hesitates before looking at Lora. “Rhenna was my mate.” He continues, speaking to the whole group, “She didn’t believe things were working out between the two of us… I knew this could’ve been an option, as you well know with Saska. This is just how mortal relationships can turn out.”

“You had a mortal mate as well?” Lora blurts out, Dettlaff nodding his head once before Lora gets slightly flustered at her outburst. “Sorry… please. Continue.”

“Perfectly alright. It took me a while to accept it, to fully understand what was truly going on. It was a number of months we had been separated before I left you that note and left. I just had to get away from Toussaint for a while.”

“But you are alright now? I hope?” Regis asks.

“... I am. “

As the group converses, mainly Regis and Dettlaff, Saska begins checking out the surrounding area from her seated position. Taking in the architecture, the wildlife, when a flash of something catches her eye not too far away. There is a stack of boxes, crates and barrels, and a man, dressed in a yellow top with blue stripes on the sleeves is sitting on top of one of them. He turns his head and smiles at her.

_Yellow shirt… tan complexion, stubble, bald head…_ she begins thinking to herself, realizing she has seen this man before, _wait… wait,_ _he was at the festival! But how-... where did he go? Wasn’t he just there?_ This is the moment she hears a distant flute playing, however it echoes like in a high ceiling cathedral. _That isn’t normal… we’re outside… a flute wouldn’t sound like that… What the hell…?_

Once the conversation turns to Regis and Lora, Dettlaff can’t help but notice Saska being a little distant, not really adding to the conversation for some time. He turns his attention to her, and that is when he notices her eyes dart around, and he looks off in the direction she is looking and after seeing nothing of interest, he turns around and looks at her again. Saska notices Dettlaff watching her, making her turn her head to look at him. He looks over her facial expression, one of tension. His eyebrows crinkled towards each other.

With Regis preoccupied with giving Lora the entire history of his and Dettlaff’s friendship, Dettlaff looks curiously at Saska and asks, “You seem tense Saska. Something wrong?” 

“Just… thought I recognized someone. That’s all.” Dettlaff nods his head, deciding to end the conversation for the time being, sensing her discomfort. He decides to take in the new vampire woman in front of him. 

_ Black and red clothes… the woman has tastes. I'll give her that,  _ Dettlaff thinks to himself,  _ Hm… odd… her scent, it’s… different somehow. I wonder if Regis picked it up on it. I’ll have to ask him later on. _

Soon enough, the group gets up as Dettlaff leads them back to his temporary home in the city. Saska finds that they go down the same path to the small body of water that her and Dettlaff was previously at, realizing that just off to the right is a small shack under the trees. 

Saska stands at the edge of the water, Lora joining her as she hears a door shut behind them. “They wanted to speak privately, didn’t they.” Saska asks as Lora joins her.

“Yes. And… hm…” Lora’s tone makes Saska turn her head to look at the woman who looks a bit conflicted. “Saska… did you ever have the opportunity to meet Dettlaff’s ex-mate?”

“Rhennawed? Never had the chance to. Why do you ask?”

“I just wanted to know more about her. Figured I’d ask you first. Get another woman’s opinion,” Lora says hesitating before looking out over the small body of water, “he is  _ really _ … attractive.” Saska turns her head looking at Lora, her jaw slightly dropping at the sudden comment. “Whoever was with him was certainly lucky.” Lora continues to look down at the ground, a small smile on her face.

“Did you…? Really? Sorry, sorry. That’s a bit rude of me. I’m just… surprised.”

“It’s alright. I just wanted to ask you your opinion.”

“Of Dettlaff?” Saska asks, Lora nodding her head yes. “Well, I’ve never had any real problems with him. He’s kind… considerate. Helpful,  _ very  _ helpful. He is very good at creating things too. Like little figurines and things like that.” She pauses. “So you… think he’s attractive?” Saska immediately sees Lora’s cheek turn a red color. “Oh wow you do, don’t you?”

“I wish to get to know him more. I haven’t had a… mate, hell, or even an attraction towards another in… centuries.”

“Keep me filled in though! Even if you decide to not pursue him. I  _ definitely _ want to know all the details. It isn’t often I get girl talk like this surrounded by vampire men.”

Back inside the shack, Dettlaff is leaning against one of the posts in the room, looking outside and at the two women at the edge of the water. Regis joins him, looking out the window as Dettlaff starts talking first.

“You join up with Saska to come find me, you run into another vampire on the way, multiple times. Then try and assist her in curbing her addiction.”

“Precisely my friend. And I believe I am making a breakthrough with her as a matter of fact.” 

“Not a boring day goes by with you around that’s for certain…” Dettlaff pauses, “Where is Lora from?” He asks curiously, Regis responding.

“Apparently beyond the Eastern mountains.”

“The Tdet?” Regis nods, Dettlaff looks back at Regis. “Hm…”

“... Do you not believe that?”

“It isn’t the tribe I’m curious about… her scent, it smells… like nothing I’ve ever smelled before.”

“Hm, that is odd. I haven’t picked up on anything.” Regis joins Dettlaff in staring out the window looking at Saska and Lora as the two women converse. “And you are sure it is Lora?”

“Absolutely certain. Do we know how old she is?” Regis scoffs at his friend's question.

“Do you truly believe I have that little manners to ask a woman her age? To be honest, her age was and is the least of my concern.” This is when the pair of vampires see the women smiling outside and going on about god knows what. “I could only assume she is not any older than us.” Dettlaff says nothing, as he continues to study Lora’s features from inside. Regis notices within a few seconds as Dettlaff studies the vampire woman outside, Regis not able to pinpoint what his friend is thinking.

“There’s just something about her…” Dettlaff says mainly to himself, but loud enough for Regis to hear. “I just… can’t put my finger on it…”

“Well, we certainly have the time to learn much about her. That is for sure. Perhaps you could give her some pointers on how to slow down her drinking. Maybe having someone that on rare occasions drinks blood could help her.”

“Perhaps… speaking of women,” Dettlaff says, turning to look at Regis with a grin on his face, “you marked Saska?”

Regis smiles, before looking at his blood brother curiously. “You sensed that I’m certain?”

“That, and when I asked her, her face practically turned a bright red.” Dettlaff pauses. “It must’ve been a extremely fun night with the feelings I felt.”

“Dettlaff, do we really need to bring up my sex life?” Dettlaff can’t help but laugh a little. 

“Just a comment is all.” Dettlaff can't help but crack a smile.

“Well, it is nice to know she still does not regret them.” Regis responds, looking at her out the window as Saska continues to converse with Lora outside. “I certainly do not.”

“I would’ve never expected you to mark her with her being mortal. What changed your mind?”

“She did.” Regis says simply, Dettlaff and him looking at one another. Dettlaff smiles at Regis, giving him a pat on his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mucai translates to quite literally, "shit"  
> \-----  
> As always I hope you enjoyed reading, and please let me know if you find any errors that I may have missed as this was not beta-read.  
> Current posting schedule - Every Thursday
> 
> Special thanks for this installment: gharashambles/silenceisaweapon, awkward-turtles-world, mackallackattack, herbalina-of-yesteryear/littleherbalina - Thank you all for listening to my absolute nonsense at all hours of the day and night <3


	6. Mirrored Flute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the group becomes more acquianted with one another in Murdach, they eat, chat, especially with Lora getting to know her a bit more, or at least what she is willing to tell, until they all decide to go back to Toussaint...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.
> 
> In this chapter specifically, in the beginning Regis is eavesdropping on a conversation between Dettlaff and Lora which will be in italics. However it ends relatively quickly.

The following day, Regis, Dettlaff and Lora all take a stroll around the city while Saska is asleep, talking of matters more vampiric in nature. Lora walks in between the two men as Regis speaks to her, the sun beginning to rise over Nazair.  “Now, it is all about your attitude. If you have a good attitude, then things will be easier for you. For example, you walk into a clothing shop and are looking for a new pair of boots. Having a cheery disposition tells the shop owner you are comfortable with the situation, therefore making them comfortable and more willing to help you out. And having enough coin certainly helps too.”

“Makes sense. It doesn’t make them think they are being threatened if the other person is calm and collected.”

“Try not to talk with your mouth wide open either.” Dettlaff adds. “It shows the fangs.”

As Dettlaff and Lora continue to converse, Regis takes a back seat in the conversation at seeing how well the pair is getting along. So much so that he grabs a to go box of breakfast food for Saska from one of the taverns as Lora and Dettlaff continue to walk around and converse. Regis still keeps an ear honed in on their conversation for as long as possible. 

_ “Lora, you said you were from east of the mountains. When was the last time you had journeyed over there?” _

_ “Hm… about… if I had to guess… three centuries? It’s hard keeping track of dates after so long.” _

_ “I understand all too well. Did your parents stay over the mountains…” _

Regis can hear a pause in the conversation, that is until Dettlaff continues.

_ “... You… didn’t have the best relationship with them judging by your facial expression.” _

_ “You’d guess right… I’d… rather not talk about my family if that’s alright.” _

_ “Perfectly alright.” _

_ “... Instead, could I ask how Saska and Regis get along so well? How did they meet exactly?” _

_ “I’ll give you the short version of the story. If you ask him, he’ll give you a whole novel on their relationship.” _

This is when their conversation gets out of range of his ears, Regis smiling to himself as he quickens his pace to make it back to where they have been staying with Dettlaff. Once he begins walking down the dirt path that diverges from the main path, he begins hearing… the sloshing of water?

Once he reaches the clearing in the tree patch, he finds Saska standing at the water's edge, boots well away from the water, her leggings pulled up her leg so as to not get them wet as she stands in the water. She stands, legs slightly apart as she begins to wave her hands around and within seconds, the water begins to move along with her arm movements, that is until she snaps her wrists upwards, a stream of water reaching up into the sky as she begins to move in such a way where the water begins circling around her, darting in and around the trees.

That is until she sees Regis, which she motions the water back into the pond as Regis approaches. “You are always so full of surprises, my dear.”

“That’s an old spell I knew. I figured it was harmless to play around with water to see if this thing would actually do something.” She says motioning to the gold bracelet that winds around her wrist, inlaid with dimeritium stones. “Miir did say it may never do anything for me, but it doesn’t hurt to at least try… what’s in the box?”

“Breakfast. Since I  _ know _ you woke up, and immediately came out here without eating anything.”

“Aw, thanks love!” She says as she takes the box, kissing him once before walking over and sitting down on a nearby stump, Regis taking a seat as he pulls over a chair to sit beside her. As she begins to eat the eggs, and meat, she asks, “So where’s Lora and Dettlaff at?”

“Getting to know each other more.” This makes Saska look at him more curiously. “Last I heard when I was walking away they were talking about us actually. Lora had asked how we met. What our story is.”

“What a story it is, too.” Saska says as she continues to eat her food. “This food is incredible by the way. Where did you guys get this?”

“The place right down the road here. Right before you get to the other side of the lake. It came with high recommendations from Dettlaff.”

“It certainly has my vote.” Saska responds, taking another bite. “So, find out anything else about Lora?”

“Let’s see… she hasn’t seen her family in three centuries, which… her age is still a mystery to me. And she doesn’t have the best relationship with her family. Common amongst vampires from what I’ve found.”

“Don’t ask about family. Got it. Her age has got me curious too. Any vampire I meet to be honest holds my interest like that. The lives you all have the ability to live, the people you’ve met, the things you’ve seen. Such interesting people. I’d kill to have an entire lifetime to do what I wish.”

“Ah well, I would not kill for such a thing.” Regis’s comments peaks Saska’s interest a bit more, “Immortality is not the most foolproof and perfect life anyone could ask for. Do we have plenty of time to contemplate our decisions and choices? Certainly. We most definitely have enough time to enact change in our lives, take me for example. However, I would not wish immortality on my worst enemies. Well… perhaps one enemy… but he has long been taken care of.” Regis pauses, knowing Saska knows he is speaking of Vilgefortz.

_ Is she really thinking of immortality? _ Regis thinks to himself,  _ I certainly hope a sorceress or anyone that could possibly give that ‘gift’; if you can call it that, doesn’t engage in her intrigue.  _

“Promise me something, my dear.” Regis begins, Saska nodding her head for him to continue. “Promise me that you will not pursue immortality. Whatever your reasoning, enough time to do what you wish, and especially if your reasoning is to be with me, promise me you will not pursue it. No matter how tempting it may be.”

“... Of course.” 

Regis can immediately sense a change in her heart rate, and how slow she is now eating. “... Did I upset you?” He asks softly.

“No, of course not.” She says taking one last bite before setting the small box off to the side of her before looking at Regis. “Sometimes I think about it, sure. Living forever, for the rest of time with you. But there’s always a little voice in the back of my head telling me I shouldn’t... And do you know who’s voice it always is? Whenever I think about doing something kind of stupid?” She pauses. “It’s yours. You’re always the voice in my head telling me no, telling me things aren’t worth trying, or if things are worth trying… Don’t worry. I have a good head on my shoulders.”

“Everyone has their breaking point, however. But it does make me feel much better knowing that I’m in that head of yours telling you to knock it off.” He responds smiling, making her smile as well. 

Back in the heart of Murdach, Lora and Dettlaff continue to converse even after they finish their food. “That is the short version of how Saska and Regis met.” Dettlaff explains to Lora. “Quite a long time ago.”

“Certainly is. Especially for a mortal.” Lora hesitates for a moment, something Dettlaff can sense, “Can I ask you some questions?”

“Ask away.”

“Where are you from? I’d assume around the same area as Regis.”

“Well, my main home is in Beauclair harbor. That is where I spend most of my time. Before that…” Dettlaff begins to rack his brain for a second, “I lived in Lyria for a while. But typically I have stayed around the Toussaint area, including here in Nazair.”

“And you’re in the same tribe as Regis?”

“I am, yes.” Dettlaff so desperately wants to question her past, wants to know what about her is strange to him, but seeing as though they have barely known each other a whole day, he decides to keep his curiosity subdued for the time being. Except for one thing. “Your eyes, they’re quite… beautiful. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen someone with purple eyes before.”

“Oh, thank you.” Lora responds. 

_ Is that… is she blushing?  _ Dettlaff thinks to himself.  _ Hm… _

“I would love to see Toussaint. I haven’t been there in so long.” Lora responds without really thinking.

“You’re been before?” 

_ … Shit… _ Lora thinks to herself,  _ why did I say that, why did I say that! Quick Lora, come up with something that makes sense. _

“I visited for a short time.”

_ Well, I suppose not a total lie... _

“I’d love to show you around. If you would like to join me in going back. I would assume Saska and Regis would like to go back home eventually.”

“We might as well ask.”

The pair walk back towards Dettlaff’s home in the woods, and soon enough, they join Regis and Saska as they are hanging out outside by the small pond. Dettlaff can’t help but get the feeling Lora is a bit more uncomfortable now. But he has most definitely picked up on changes in her scent and heartbeat since they met. And it isn’t too strange.

“Ah, you two are back!” Regis exclaims.

“Yes,” Dettlaff begins, “and we were wondering if you two would like to accompany us back to Toussaint. Lora wishes to see the city, and I want to get back to my workshop. You two are more than welcome to stay here, however. My home is your home as always.”

Regis turns back to Saska, seeing her standing up to address him. “I’d love to get back to Toussaint. It’s weird, being on the road for this long, I kind of miss it. But we should go to the stables and grab the horse.”

“Why don’t we all go together?” Lora asks, Saska responding.

“Well, I had planned on grabbing her and bringing her here. I can cast a spell over her to make her a little less freaked out going through a portal. And I’m still unsure as to how people around here feel about magic being cast such in the open.

“We are portalling back?” Dettlaff asks.

“If that is alright. Unless you all wish to fly back. I do not plan on riding our horse, or walking all the way back to Toussaint…. How about this. I’ll go grab the horse, you three decide what you want to do.” And by the time she returns with the mare, the three vampires have indeed made their decision, Regis answering Saska’s question.

“Okay, so we shall join you through the portal. Lora is actually very intrigued by the concept of them.” Saska looking at Lora, she watches as the horse nuzzles into Lora’s hand and arm as she pets the side of her face. 

“Perfect! So you’ve never been through a portal before then.” Saska says, Lora responding.

“I have to say that it’ll be a first for me.”

“Don’t worry,” Dettlaff begins, surprising Saska a little bit, “it’s a bit disorienting at first… but you can hold onto my arm if you wish.”

Saska glances over at Regis who also gives her a side eye as Dettlaff offers his arm, knowing that her and Regis are definitely going to have some form of talk later. Taking the extra time, Saska touches the mare’s long face and puts her under a spell so as to not have her freak out in the portal. Regis comes over and takes the reins from Saska and as she walks a few feet away, she begins circling her hands and the portal has been summoned, it swirling in a bright blue light. 

Regis goes through first with the mare  
Then Dettlaff and a nervous Lora  
Then Saska

Once everyone is through, Saska closes the portal. She sees Regis pretty much alright, but Dettlaff is a tad wobbly as he keeps Lora more or less steady. They all look around, noticing they are back at Regis’s home right outside the crypt.

“Oh prc me zech…” Lora says to herself, “that was certainly interesting.”

“ _ Prc me zech… _ ” Saska says repeating Lora, trying to figure out what she said as Regis leads the mare close to the entrance of the crypt, tying her up, “Judging by the situation, that was… um… ‘what the hell?’”

“… Yes actually. That’s… quite impressive. I have yet to meet a mortal that knows our tongue.” Lora responds as Regis just smiles like an idiot.

“Thanks! I’ve been trying to keep up with you three whenever you decide to slip into your native tongue.” Saska pauses. “But this is it. This is where Regis and I live.”

“… A crypt? Very homie.”

“Thank you!” Regis responds happily, Dettlaff somewhat rolling eyes.

The group gets settled, mainly Regis showing Lora around with Dettlaff and Saska in tow. But eventually, everyone is inside all hanging out before they decide to head back to Dettlaff’s place. The group converses, smiling, laughing, and getting along quite well. It takes them no time at all to reach Beauclair Harbor to all hang out at Dettlaff’s home. As the vampires all walk inside, Saska decides to stand outside for a while against the railing against the water in front of his home. Looking up at the stars, she sighs, feeling at peace as time passes indicated by the moon rising higher in the sky. 

What brings her back to reality is the soft echoing of… 

_ Is that… is someone playing a flute? That sounds like what I heard in Nazair. _

Looking around her, she finds that she can’t locate the sound from where she’s at. She begins walking away from Dettlaff’s home, only stopping to look back at it once, thinking her decision over.  _ I really should tell them… _ she thinks to herself as she can see the three vampires through one of the windows in some form of deep conversation.  _ Well… I probably won’t be that long _ . _ They probably won’t even notice I’m gone. _

Following the noise, she finds that she ends up going a bit more north, leaving the harbor, and in fact, the noise of the flute being played is getting louder the further she goes. That is until she reaches Count de la Croix’s mill. 

_ Strange… This is the first place Regis and I stopped at when we first left to find Dettlaff. _

Turning down the path towards the mill, noticing a man sitting on top of the building.

A familiar face, tan complexion, bald and some stubble for facial hair  
A yellow long-sleeved tunic with a few blue stripes around the sleeves  
Brown leather collar, dark trousers and boots

However, she expected to see a flute in his hands, but there was none. The man is sitting cross-legged on the roof as he looks down at her with a smile on his face as the flute music begins to dissipate.

“Ah, hello! I had wondered if you heard my music.” The man says.

“Good evening.” Saska responds, hesitating a little bit, “Who are you? Where was that music coming from if it wasn’t from you?”

“Now now, one question at a time.” The man stands and begins to walk downwards seemingly in thin air, almost as if he is walking down invisible stairs. This unsettles Saska to no end. “I think it's better that we avoid the subject of my name, Ms Dorren. Or should I say, future Mrs. Godefroy, perhaps?”

This makes her heart stop. 

_ What does he mean? _ She wonders.  _ Future Mrs…  _

“First that festival,” Saska begins, attempting to take a bit of control over the situation, “then Murdach. Now here. It's clear that you know me and you want my attention.” The man now stops walking once he reaches the ground, touching his fingertips together in front of his torso, making almost a triangle shape with his hands. “You certainly have my attention, that’s for sure.”

“I always knew you were smart.” He continues complete eye contact as he stays in his current spot on the ground, “Smart. Powerful,  _ very _ powerful… not too bad on the old eyes either.” He continues to speak, but Saska doesn’t pay too much attention as she attempts to keep her wits about her, looking around her surroundings, making sure she is still grounded to reality, unsure as to who, or what this man is.

That is when she notices the water absolutely frozen.   
But not frozen like ice, frozen in time.

_ The water is not moving… okay… okay that’s the first out of place thing besides this man. The trees… the leaves are blowing… the dirt, that’s moving… _

The man notices her gaze fixate on the water, and he can’t help but be a little surprised with how quick Saska was to notice the water. With a wave of his hand, he unfreezes the water. “Perceptive one you are. Now, let’s see what you can really do.”  The man stays in his current position as the wind picks up around them, beginning to violently swirl around the two. It becomes significantly harder to see as Saska can only really see the man's face currently. 

Taking a deep breath, she readies her stance to something a bit more stable before shooting her hands out into the whirlwind of dirt. Shutting her eyes, she focuses on the air, and within seconds, she brings her hands out and the wind calms, Saska now being able to see clearly again. The man stays exactly where he is as Saska relaxes her stance being able to see him again.

“Who are you and what do you want with me?” She asks rather plainly, getting more and more annoyed with these tests he’s putting her through.

“Do you not wish to know how I know you?” She hesitates before nodding her head once. Within a blink of her eye, he is gone from her sight, but Saska can feel a presence behind her left shoulder. “Stygga Castle was the first… a huge magical explosion in the middle of the woods completely flattening a castle, only leaving a large crater of stone and wood? All that magic in the air? Sounded like quite the time.” 

Saska, keeping her eyes mostly forward, notices a man emerge from the mill, stopping when he steps out into the moonlight. His one glass eye glimmers in the light making Saska tense immediately. She then notices how half of his face is horribly scarred, dark, fancy mages robes are draped over his body.

_ This has to be an illusion… I killed Vilgefortz with my own two hands. This can’t be... _

Saska attempts to keep her wits about her, to not explode in pure emotion, but it certainly is hard since she feels very strongly about the mage. But she also feels rage for whoever this man is, constantly testing her since she got here. The mystery man continues to speak, seeing her getting upset at the mere sight of the mage. 

“You managed in a heat of rage to utterly destroy someone who you have something in common with.” He pauses, “Imagine… if Vilgefortz was alive you could’ve gone to him for guidance on how to properly use those stones instead of taking wild guesses every time.” This is precisely the moment where she sees a rather large elven man in metal armor emerge from the mill. Immediately, Gaunter continues speaking. “Ah, now  _ that _ is a man that could have help you… a shame really. He’s quite the looker himself too.”

_ Eredin… that… that bastard... _

Saska looks down at her bracelet, glancing at the inlaid stones, knowing that this man is right, but looks forward at the mill. The man is more surprised, honestly expecting Saska to snap at him, and explode in pure magical energy. But she didn’t. She showed restraint. The illusion of Vilgefortz and Eredin disappears into the sky, the man now speaking into her right ear. 

“The second time was when you arrived at Kaer Morhen.” He then walks out from behind her to stand in front of her once more. “So eager to offer a hand too. Lost you for a while so I followed your man. I have to say, the way he just destroyed every single Wild Hunt soldier that got in his way, including the King of them all. Impressive really. The festival was just a bit of fun to be honest. I was half tempted to jump in and dance with you but your partner was surprisingly good. Then the harbour. And now… I learned a lot about you, through word of mouth, Temerian history books… Saska Riannon Dorren… Queen of Temeria twofold, oldest living Elder Blood to date, one of the saviors of the Universe… Does that suffice?”

Saska hesitates, “I was only Queen once.” The man only looks at her with a smile before responding. 

“Now your questions. I do not wish you any harm so I will not divulge your curiosity in knowing my true name.” The man pauses before continuing, “Gaunter O’Dimm at your service. And what I want with you? Well, I have a proposition for you. “She watches as the man begins to pacing around the general area, divulging her curiosity, “Soon enough someone will contact you. Somewhat of a higher being. He is going to ask you for assistance. Agree, and come back here the same night if you wish to hear me out.”

“You’re not going to tell me now? Or what the stipulations are? Surely this proposition you are suggesting has strings attached.” The man only chuckles. “If I come to you like you suggested, will I have to do as you say?”

“Depends on my mood really. And how long you take to get back to me.”

“And why should I trust you?”

“Because I keep my promises.” Gaunter becomes more serious all of a sudden before taking a moment to himself, then continuing, “Let’s say you scratch my back, I scratch yours. In any way you desire. Money? Power? Ah, who am I kidding you already have that,” He pauses, “Or perhaps to be able to live for the rest of time alongside your vampire lover… The choice is yours.” Walking backwards, Gaunter, after a few seconds, disappears completely from sight. Saska can’t help but stay in the spot she has been standing in for a few minutes, taking in what just happened.

_ Queen of Temeria twofold… future Mrs. Godefroy? The man must be mad. It’s the only logical explanation… right? _

"Saska?" Immediately she spins around at the sudden voice and holds her hands up readying a spell, but is extremely relieved to find that it is Dettlaff. "Relax, it's just me." He says as he comes over to her as she doesn't relax one bit. "Who was that man?"

“Some guy named Gaunter O’Dimm apparently.”

“I didn’t mean his name.” He says simply, Saska watching as he comes over to her with a bit more purpose.

"I…” she looks back behind her at the mill for a moment before looking back towards Dettlaff, “don’t really know to be perfectly honest with you.” she pauses, “a djinn perhaps… how much did you hear?”

"Enough to be concerned. About when that whirlwind stopped." Saska watches as his eyes dart around while looking down at her, something similar to what Regis does when he is checking to make sure she is alright. He stares her down, almost as though he is trying to burrow a whole straight through her as his eyebrows crinkle together. Instead of answering, she turns her head around to look back at the mill. That is until she feels Dettlaff place a hand on her shoulder making her look at him once more. "Who is this Gaunter O'Dimm."

"I wish I knew… Dettlaff I…”

_ It isn't often she is this flustered and speechless _ , Dettlaff thinks to himself,  _ this has to be something serious. _

Saska continues, "I… don't really know what else to say."

"We should tell Regis."

"Which will only make him worry." She responds, pausing for a moment. Dettlaff immediately is taken off guard by her comment. "If I'm not able to explain it to you how do you expect me to explain it to him? Are you going to explain what just happened to him? Because if you’re able to I would love to know what we just saw."  Dettlaff wanted to disagree with her, tell her it wasn't that hard to do. However the best he could possibly explain this situation is that a man walked on thin air, and offered something up to Saska if she took on this mystery job. 

_ Not really logical sounding… agh! Fuck… Regis should know though. _ Dettlaff thinks to himself before responding to Saska. He groans a bit letting his hand slide down off of Saska’s shoulder. “This may be a bad idea. But if he sees us return and thinks something is very wrong, we will have to tell him.” 

“I suppose you’re right…” Dettlaff can see the concern littered across her face, and her scent definitely gives it away as well. 

_ She’s scared. _

“Would you… like to teleport back? Or if you wish to walk I can accompany you back.”

“I’d rather walk. The cool breeze should help calm my nerves a little bit.”

Dettlaff lets Saska take the first step away from the mill as he walks in pace beside her. After a few seconds, she summons a long black cloak, holding it around her body. “Cold?” He asks her as she nods her head yes as the pair continues on. 

“The cool breeze is a bit colder than I thought.” She responds dryly. But a question still burns the back of Saska's mind. “Why’d you follow me?”

“Regis and Lora were talking more of her addiction, I decided to step out and give you some company. I found you weren’t outside anywhere so I followed your scent trail.” He pauses. “I wanted to make sure you were alright. It isn’t like you to just go off without telling anyone.” Saska listens to the vampire, not responding with any words. Just nodding her head, indicating that was at least listening. 

The rest of the walk back is uneventful, Saska and Dettlaff staying mainly silent as they return to Beauclair Harbor. And that is when Regis and Lora walk outside of Dettlaff’s home noticing the two.

“Ah, I had wondered if you both were still outside. Would you like to head back home Saska? It is getting rather late.”

Saska and Regis head back home, Lora staying with Dettlaff for the time being. Saska can’t help but thank whatever Gods that are out there that Regis doesn’t ask many questions on where she had gone. And the fact that they are going the opposite way her scent trail would’ve led to. 


	7. Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.
> 
> Towards the end of this chapter after the line break, it is depicting a moment happening in Lora's head and will be in italics.

Lora takes a seat outside on one of the many crates right along the water in Beauclair harbor. She stares out to the water, getting a bit lost in her own head. That is until she senses someone coming up behind her.

“You enjoy sitting outdoors as well?” Lora hears a deep familiar voice behind her along with the scent she associates with him. Leather, wood, and aftershave. 

“I do,” she responds to Dettlaff as he joins her in her seated position on one of the crates near the water's edge in Beauclair Harbor. He leans against the crate tower she has sat on top of, them basically being at eye level with one another. “It’s quite… nice just sitting outside. Especially now, watching how people operate, how they work throughout the day.” She then looks at Dettlaff. “Is that why you live here?”

“Somewhat. I tend to enjoy being around lesser beings. I decided to stay here, making it my small workshop.”

“It’s… really amazing that you have the talent to create things like that. I always envied people who could carve, or paint or draw.”

“I could… draw you if you’d like. Your profile is quite… nice. It would make for a lovely drawing.” Dettlaff says, Lora getting some butterflies in her stomach.

“Oh uhm… yeah. Sure, I’d love that.”

Over the coming days, Regis and Saska typically can be found at their home in the crypt, however, Lora and Dettlaff slowly begin to grow closer. Enjoying each other's company increasingly over time. In fact, the amount of time she has spent with Dettlaff, she finds that she doesn’t feel the need to drink blood too often, too preoccupied with learning as much as possible about the broody vampire. 

Dettlaff specifically finds that he quite enjoys the vampire's company, and in fact, does draw her a number of times, only one that she was aware of. 

Regis however, sense’s something about Saska seems… off, but he is unsure as to what or if he is just imagining things.

One day, Lora decides to leave his home and pay Saska a visit, needing a little girl time. And needing some advice. Once out of sight from the public eye, she disappears into mist and flies to the cemetery and quickly finds Saska and Regis outside. She waits until Regis walks back inside to appear on the ground, Saska surprised at her sudden appearance.

“Oh, good afternoon Lora- oh wow you look stressed.” Saska immediately goes into work mode, half expecting to need to go grab Regis to help with Lora’s urges to drink she sometimes gets.

“Can I talk to you? Privately?” Without a second thought, Saska grabs Lora by the arm and pulls her away from the crypt and sits down on one of the tombs. “I am having what you mortals call, a crisis.”

“Okay, explain everything. What’s going on.”

“It’s Dettlaff.” Saska can’t help but smile wide. “He’s… I don’t know if he wishes to become involved with me but… Saska I really want to ask however I don’t wish to royally screw things up. Especially with his recent relationship.”

“Have you had mates before?”

“Not more permanent ones, no.”

“I can try and figure this out for you. If you want I can bring it up to Regis, maybe have him work his magic if he agrees.”

“I… no… no not yet.” This is what makes Saska even more curious. “I need to think about this a little more I think…” Saska can see the change in her posture and facial expressions as Lora speaks. She can tell how nervous she is getting. “I apologize for wasting your time, but if I decide one way or the other I will come find you.”

“You never could waste my time,” Saska responds offering a warm smile as she places a hand on Lora’s shoulder, “I’ll always be here for you if you need to talk.”

“I… think I’m going to go for a midday fly. The air will help to clear my head.” 

“Be safe!” And with that, Lora disappears into thin air and flies off. 

_ How can I just enter a relationship without telling him the truth? _ Lora thinks to herself as the Toussaint air gives her a bit of a refresher.  _ How am I supposed to tell them that I lied about so much? _

Back at the crypt, Saska walks inside the small building and down the stairs. Once she reaches the bottom of the staircase, she turns to make her way up to where Regis is up in his little living area. He is seated in front of his multiple bookcases, a few books piled up on the table beside him with one in his lap. 

“What are you reading?” Saska asks quietly.

“Just an old love story I used to love reading in my youth. But now,” he chuckles shutting the dusty book before setting it aside, “I cringe just reading at how terribly it was written as far as cliches go.” Regis opening his arms, Saska slides onto his lap to sit on it sideways. He wraps his arms around her before remembering something. “Ah, I had nearly forgotten. Grab the book on the top of that stack for me.” He says pointing to the pile of books on the table. Saska leans to grab it before leaning back into his chest holding the book. “Dettlaff said this one may interest you, he even said it may be about you.”

“... Oh it’s a Nilfgaardian book.” Saska responds, reading the text on the cover. The book is obviously a bit older, black, gold trim and detailing. “ _ Great Sun Dynasties and Notable Person _ ’s.” Saska says reading the title before opening to the first page, Regis listening and looking over the pages intently. “Gorgeous illustration of their coat of arms.” She says more matter of factly as she turns and begins skimming the table of contents. “Torres var Emreis… Fergus var Emreis… all of their family members… when I was in the Temerian court, if I remember right, I was there between the rules of those two.” She then skips down a little bit on the page, “Emhyr var Emreis and Pavetta… interesting…” Regis can see her face crinkle a bit as she continues reading.

“What is so interesting?”

“The fact that once Pavetta is mentioned it seems like they added a short portion of her chapter to be about the Elder Blood.” First she skips to when Torres’s ruling ends, and Fergus’s ruling begins and finds nothing about her. Then. Saska flips to Pavetta’s portion of Emhyr’s chapter reading a little bit before she realizes it indeed does briefly overview the Elder Blood.

She begins reading the passage in Nilfgaardian but then remembers that talk with Dettlaff, about how Regis doesn’t really know Nilfgaardian well. “Sorry, um…  _ ‘It is impossible to accurately trace the genes of Lara Dorren, as stated in Master Roggeveen’s book, the Elder Blood _ ’,” Saska pauses as she feels Regis somewhat stiffen underneath her, “ _ however, seeing Pavetta’s very obvious ancestry, we are able to somewhat accurately trace back her heritage, possibly even linking her with former Temerian Queen Saska Riannon Dorren-Goidemar, the wife of the former Temerian King Goidemar.’ _ ” She looks over the family tree they have written out, commenting, “Well, seems as though we may need to fix this. These few people here aren’t Elder Blood. Just rumors.” She then flips through the pages, finding not too much information on her specifically. Closing the book, she then gets up off Regis and begins scanning his bookshelves. “Regis, I don’t remember seeing any books here about Elder Blood anything. Do you know where they could be if ya had one?”

Regis then gets up, also beginning to scan the shelves. “Hm… I do not believe I have any here on the shelves, but…” he then scans the general area, searching the multitude of book stacks scattered around his lab and after some time of searching, Regis then finds a few stacked way up high above his desk. “Ah! Love I believe I found some!” Saska joins him as he sets them down on his desk, three books. “So we have  _ Lara’s Gift _ ,  _ Story of Lara Dorren and Cregen of Lod,  _ and  _ Elder Blood _ .”

Immediately, Saska hops up on the desk to sit on it and grabs the Elder Blood book, opening it up to the first page. There is no table of contents, but there is a brief overview of points that will be touched upon within the pages. Her mind is filled with the image of Vilgefortz’s illusion coming out of Count de la Croix’s mill the other night, her interaction with Gaunter O’Dimm. 

_ Keep it together Saska, don’t try and think about it too much. _

Regis can sense her heartbeat quicken once more before calming down a bit after a moment. 

_ Hm, she's nervous again…  _

“This is Vilgefortz alright…” Saska says quietly, “the man writes how he acted. Pompous and full of himself.” Saska begins reading through the first portion of the book, mainly an overview of magic and Elder Blood magic specifically. But when it begins speaking of Elder Blood more specifically, she begins to read the passage out loud. 

“ ‘"It is impossible to accurately trace the genes of Lara Dorren. The fates of entire generations are lost to time, their picture further distorted by unclear lineages, bastard children, intentional historical falsification and a simple lack of records. In many cases, Elder Blood is too thin and has lost its power.’ ” Saska can’t help but chuckle, Regis also laughing as he comments on the passage.

“Lost its power?” Regis begins. “Well, turns out he was very wrong about that now wasn’t he.” Saska continues reading the passage.

“‘Moreover, not every Source attributes their magical skills to the presence of Lara's genes. A few, in whom the mutation has occurred, are marked by extraordinary abilities. They are able to travel through time and space and possess certain magical abilities. These talents are, however, wild and uncontrolled, manifesting themselves in times of stress or strong emotions, surprising even their possessors. History knows of travelers flung far in time and space by their own abilities. That is why the Brotherhood of Sorcerers should take special care of Source-children, raise them under its watchful eyes."’” Saska pauses as she reads the final line on the page. “‘ This is includes, but is not limited to a young girl named Cirilla, daughter of the Emperor and Pavetta - a Source to Lara’s gene, and Lara’s own daughter, Saska.’”

Regis can sense and feel her heartbeat begin to quicken a little as she turns the page to continue reading. “ ‘Cirilla being so young, and already holds incredible power, is all the more intriguing. However, Saska surviving for this long, from my sources over three centuries now, is even more intriguing. Not once has she been caught by Witch Hunters or persons wanting to destroy magical beings, not once has she had an intense magical outburst, in this dimension and universe anyway.’ ” 

“Hm… a bit outdated wouldn’t you say?” Regis says quietly, Saska not responding as she continues. 

“ _ ‘ _ She is one to most certainly keep an eye on, for the sake of studying, and for the sake of the Brotherhood and Lodge.’ ” As Saska skims the rest of the pages, she notices he begins to ramble on a bit, but not about her, which she decides to shut the book but still holds it in her hands looking down at the cover. 

The crypt is silent, only the very faint sounds of creaking wood and the cawing of ravens outside can be heard. Regis gives her some time to get lost in her head before he even begins to think about what he should say in this situation. But she speaks up first, making things a tad easier. Or harder.

“Do you… ever think about if he was still alive?” This obviously peaks Regis’s interest, hearing this come from the very woman who was Vilgefortz’s demise. 

“I… occasionally do, yes. But it is mainly so that I can tell him how much of a right bastard he was.” Regis hesitates. “Such an intriguing thing to bring up, however. I did not realize you thought about him still.”

“I do… but more of,” she then looks at her bracelet on her wrist, running her fingers over the stones inlaid into it, “this sense. Lately anyway.”

Regis takes a few steps to stand in front of her, taking her left hand in his, also allowing his fingers to run over the stones, their fingers occasionally brushing against one another. “The way I see it, especially with the interest he took in you, he would’ve just used it as an attempt to get closer. Probably for the worst. Would he have been able to assist you in your endeavors to get these stones to work? Of course he would’ve. But I do not believe he would have done such for free.” Saska attempts to look away, but Regis ever so gently caresses her cheek, Saska looking back at him. “Now, enough of,” he chuckles, “ _ Vilgebitch _ as you once put it, I know you did not come down here to talk of him and he certainly doesn’t need to continue to be brought up in conversation any longer. Was there something else on your mind?”

This makes Saska smile a bit. “There was actually. Lora brought up something to me, and you need to promise me to keep it between us.”

“Ooo, some gossip? I am all ears and my lips are sealed.”

“She’s been looking to possibly get involved with Dettlaff. She decided against me helping her out and figuring out if he was interested in her that way, but I’d say just keep an ear out if you ever are hanging out with him alone.”

“I shall certainly keep an ear open as I am around Dettlaff. I… hm… as much as it might be not the best idea getting involved with another person this soon after Rhennawed… a closer friendship at the very least would not hurt. And we may have the opportunity to be matchmakers together.”

* * *

Later on that night, Saska and Regis set out some food they prepared earlier that day as Lora gets rather comfy in the corner of the room, relaxing after her rather long flight around Toussaint. Dettlaff is the last to arrive, carrying a covered bowl of some pastries he had purchased from the markets. 

It’s quite a lovely dinner with the three vampires and Elder Blood woman. They all sit around, talk, laugh, and tell old stories about each other to Lora. Once they finish eating and the conversation continues, Lora has found a rather comfy corner of the crypt to rest her eyes as Regis and Dettlaff go on about something for a while. She settles in the corner on the ground, a few random pillows behind her back as she slowly begins drifting off. But the calmness, and peacefulness of a short rest is suddenly interrupted by a similar feeling she has been getting recently.

Her body goes completely cold, her vision turning blurry if she tries to open her eyes. However, when she shuts her eyes again, she is now suddenly transported to a whole other world.

_ My… no… no no this is impossible… _

_ She is in front of her childhood home.  
Her first home.   
Before the Conjunction of Spheres. _

_ Lora can feel a presence flying around her before someone appears nearby, a few feet away. There, appearing from smoke, is her father. _

_ Tall, well over six feet tall.   
Extremely sharp facial features, deep purple eyes.  
Long straight black hair, grey beginning to grow in at the roots  
Multiple braids frame his face  
A well groomed black beard and that comes to a point at the chin _

_ He adorns all black clothes, no holes or tears to be seen along with a long deep red cloak draped across his chest and shoulders, falling down on the left side of his body.  
Almost exactly like how she remembers him. _

_“What do you want with me? Is this even real?”_ _Lora asks quite plainly._

_ “Of course it is… I’ve been… trying to contact you for so long… but to no avail… but now- .” Lora cuts him off. _

_ “And you think this is the best option?” She questions, getting a bit more angry.  “How is this even possible? How are we… here?” _

_ “An illusion. A front. Somewhere… where both of us would feel… comfortable. At home.” _

Lora hesitates a moment before asking a burning question in her mind.  _ “... Are you alive?” _

_ “Loralai-.” _

_ “Are you alive.” _

_ He hesitates.  “ Come to Tesham Mutna and I will explain everything… I promise. ” He responds, holding two fingers over his heart as a sign of trust and promises made. _

_ “ _ … _ Fine. But I am doing so on my own terms, not yours.” _

She suddenly feels a sharp pain in her chest and she opens her eyes wide, breaking out in a cold sweat. Lora gets her bearings and realizes that she is back in the corner of the crypt sitting on the floor. Dettlaff is knelt in front of her, his hand caressing her cheek as his icy blue eyes almost try to pierce their way into her mind. 

“Are you alright?” Dettlaff asks, Regis also coming alongside him. “You were thrashing in your sleep, was it a bad nightmare?” Lora for a moment, debates whether or not to tell the truth. But after a second, she realizes that lying about this could spell complete and utter disaster. 

_ They don’t even know my full name… damn it why couldn’t I have just been up front about all of this?  _

“… I’m not. I... Dettlaff I don’t know what to do.”

“Tell us what’s wrong.”

Regis, upon hearing Lora’s distress, flies outside to locate Saska who is leaning up against a nearby tree looking out over the horizon. He can immediately sense tension in her body, especially with how her body language is showing. 

_ Oh by the Gods… what’s she upset about? _

Regis, appearing nearby, makes Saska turn her head to look at him. “My dear, we may have a problem. Something is wrong with Lora.” He can see how her mood instantly changes as she perks up and follows him down inside the crypt. 

Saska, upon seeing Lora, says, “Damn Lora, I’ve never seen you like this. What’s wrong?”

“I… I haven’t told you everything… I’ve… I’ve lied to all of you.”

Tension can be felt throughout the entire crypt, Dettlaff tensing the most. No one says anything for a short time, that is until Saska breaks the silence quietly and as calmly as possible.

“In order to help you, we need to know what’s going on.” She pauses. “All we want to do is help you. Obviously whatever is affecting you this much is a pretty big deal.”

“… Of course… please, sit… this will take a while.” Lora responds. Regis pulls over a chair, Saska deciding to sit down on the floor along with Dettlaff and Lora. “… You all have been so… kind. And understanding of me. Even without knowing much about me. I… I haven't told you my whole story.” 

Regis responds, “Well, it seems like now is a good time to tell it. Start from wherever you deem necessary.”


	8. Loralai Atruste-Pulmchava

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.  
> \---  
> A bit of a shorter chapter this time around.

Lora wishes she could take a deep breath like humanoids do, she feels as though it would calm her nerves a tad bit. What would they say? What would they think? Would they throw her out never wanting to speak to her again? Did she just royally fuck up her possibility of friendship and perhaps more with Dettlaff?

_ Agh, I’m getting a headache… may as well get this over with. _ She thinks to herself before beginning.

“My full name is Loralai Atruste-Pulmchava. I was born not in this world, but in our kinds homeworld. Before the Conjunction of Spheres. I was born to my mother, Celeste Atruste, and my father,” she hesitates, feeling the pain of what she is about to admit, “Khagmar Pulmchava.” She can sense the tension in the room, and is able to see it clearly on the group's faces. “My family was one of the first ones who stepped through during the Conjunction. My brother, Kieran was born before the moment my father became… infamous. He… As both of you know, he was captured and imprisoned in Tesham Mutna for what he had done. He telepathically spoke to me, told me what had happened and that the others were looking for my family.” She pauses and looks at Saska. “You’ve heard of Khagmar?”

“I have. But that would make you… over a millennium old.”

“A millennium and six centuries… We lived in the Toussaint area once we came to this world. But once my father had his moment of infamy I… fled across the mountains, trying to get as far away from this area as possibly, so far to the point where I stumbled across a small group from the Tdet tribe. They offered me safety, allowing me to go into hiding and hibernate in their territory. I… deeply regret telling you I was from Tdet. But lying about my tribe was one way to keep my identity safe... That is when I went into hibernation. I figured if a mortal found me and tried to kill me it didn’t matter much anyway… I woke up during the ninth century of this world, six centuries of calm and sleep. A young vampire woke me up, asked if he could hibernate there. I figured it was about time to get up anyway, especially since he didn’t know who I was. From there I attempted to try and track my parents, see if I could sense them just to get some closure... But nothing. I figured my father was being tortured at the time, or possibly even dead. Same with my mother.” she pauses, “I’m… sorry for not telling you all sooner.”

“My, that’s…” Regis begins, “That certainly is the story… never in all my years thought I would ever have met someone from our homeworld. Especially someone of your… stature, I suppose is the best word. It may be odd thinking about you being related to Khagmar, I had no idea he even had children to be honest with you.”

  
“… You aren’t your father,” Saska begins, “that much is obvious. You are your own person, and at least for me, the actions of your father will never change my opinion of you.” Saska offers Lora a soft smile, “I can understand your hesitation to tell us who you really were. I can only imagine the unease you felt around us, especially with other vampires.” Lora then looked at Dettlaff awaiting his response. 

“… I can understand why you would choose to keep that part of your life a secret. Painful thing to talk about…” He then looks at her, “I… appreciate you telling us. I can tell it took a lot to admit. But I appreciate you telling us. ”

“… Thank you. All of you.” Lora responds. “I… never expected to have people who cared this much about me before.”

Saska then gets a question burning in her mind. “Can… can I ask a question?” Everyone turns to Saska curiously, Lora nodding her head yes. “One night, before we got to Nazair, I saw you look a bit… nervous. Was it because you were wondering if you should tell us all of this? Or is something else going on? Whatever it is I bet we can all take it on. 3 of you guys and an Elder Blood is no doubt enough power to help.” She says with some confidence as Lora responds.

“I’ve been having strange… dreams? More like daydreams. My father was always able to telepathically communicate with others, a power I have grown to develop as well. I’ve had two daydreams so far where my vision gets blurry and I get extremely cold. The first time, I couldn’t point anything out. The second one, I was able to pinpoint my father's voice. Of course I didn’t want to believe it was him. The third… the third was just now. But this time was different. I was back in front of my original home. He was there, it was an illusion but I… never knew him to be able to do such a thing.”

“So he could be alive?” Saska asks.

“Yes. Which I am… conflicted about.”

“Why’s that? If you don't mind me asking.”

“I never quite understood what they did to him… I mean, being imprisoned for two centuries and then nothing? Either he escaped, someone let him out, or… I don’t know… he asked me to come to Tesham Mutna and he would explain everything. I… don’t know if I trust him. Or if it is even him and not just some mage pretending to be him.”

“You… prove a very good point,” Regis begins, “I never thought of it like that… so Khagmar may or may not be running around, or it could be an imposter… Well, that certainly is a predicament… However, I believe this is something you need to decide. Should we go as soon as possible? Speak with… strange things to say, your father or this imposter? Or do you wish to wait?”

“What do you guys think?” Lora asks the group, Saska the first to speak up.

“Personally I think we should wait. Possibly make up some form of game plan just in case things go sour. I don’t know about you guys, but possibly being in a room with four higher vampires is a bit… nerve wracking for me.” Dettlaff and Regis both agree with Saska, Lora then having the last word.

“Then we should wait. Let’s just let the idea simmer for a little while before we head out.”

* * *

Lora finds herself sitting alone outside as the sun sets, the moon taking its place in the night sky. The stars twinkle in the Toussaint skies, illuminating the night. She stays seated on one of the tombs as she raises her left arm, staring down at the scarred words in her native tongue that is carved into her left forearm. 

_ Mini terma icac cuth… my skin and blood… _ Lora says in her mind, the words that her father once scarred in her skin still very clearly there. Lora runs her finger tips over the words, but as she does a light breeze blows from behind her, a familiar scent rushes to her nostrils, one that she has come to enjoy.

Old leather  
Sawdust  
Aftershave

_ Dettlaff? _ She thinks to herself, lowering her arm to her lap. She can hear his footsteps getting somewhat louder before stopping. 

“May I join you?” He asks, Lora responding with just a nod of her head. She scoots over to the left to make room for Dettlaff as he sits down beside her. She can tell he wants to say something, but is hesitating for a moment as he does not look at her just yet. “ Your scars… they make sense now. I know not of any higher being that wasn’t born before the Conjunction and still follows the scarring traditions…” Dettlaff turns his head, making eye contact with her. His expression is soft and inviting. “Can I know more about these?” He asks, motioning to her scars on her arm. 

“Of course.” Lora responds, holding out her arm and turns slightly towards him to show him her forearm as she explains, “It says,  _ my skin and blood _ . It was given to me by my father before the Conjunction… including…” Lora trails off, wondering whether or not to explain the rest of the scarring she has yet to show anyone since she fled and hibernated.

Dettlaff watches as her facial expression hardens up, the cogs inside her mind obviously working on overdrive.  _ Hm… she must have more scars then. _

Lora lowers her arm before taking a moment to herself before speaking again. “Well… including these… there’s a reason why I’ve never taken my cloak off.” Taking her time, she unclips her cloak from her shirt, and then slides it off her shoulders revealing the circular patterns of scars. Dettlaff looks them over, seeing the multiple rings of dotted scars around her shoulders that connect by a number of organic lines of dotted scars going across her shoulder blades, meeting in the middle and going down her spine, most likely continuing underneath her shirt. Lora allows Dettlaff some time to look them over before speaking again.

“The dots are extremely common for people of our tribe, well, I suppose back when we still practiced this… that’s why I’ve always kept them hidden, I was afraid that someone would recognize that I’m from Gharasham. That maybe they would realize how old I actually was. Start asking questions and such…”

“… Your father gave these to you, too?” 

“He did… they’re based on my mother’s scars.”

“… May I…?” He trails off as he ever so slowly raises his hand towards her shoulder, but stopping one she looks at it. Lora looks back up at him, nodding her head once, which he then let’s his hand touch her shoulder. His fingertips glide over the raised dots as he asks another question. “How does one go about doing this form of body modification?”

“Are you asking about the old traditions?” He nods his head yes. “Ah, well…” Lora begins to try and think back to her young years, over sixteen hundred years ago to recall the traditions they used to follow as a species. “It was a right of passage. When your parents thought you were ready to fully join the tribe you belonged to, they would gather the tools and create a design to scar your body. Since I am a part of Gharasham, we had the tradition of creating these dots across our body. Typically the designs went around the body for men, and these more… organic shapes and circles for women. My father created the design, along with my mother. Basing them off my mother’s scars.”

“Have you ever seen the ones on your back?”

“No, but I have seen very simple drawings of them my father drew up for me.” Dettlaff decides to keep that in the back of his mind for now. “But to continue, either parent, or even a mentor decides when you are ready to be scarred. My father was the one to scar me. You both sit down opposite each other, and as the person begins cutting, you concentrate on not allowing the wounds to heal immediately. Not until you are told to do so when the entirety of the design is done.” She then looks down at her left arm. “This one was last. My father has a phrase on his arm, one given to him by his father. So he figured I should have one as well.” Lora pauses. “It’s… strange looking at now… knowing who gave it to me… but still, it came from a place of love and respect.” 

Lora looks back over at Dettlaff, seeing his facial expression soft, understanding in his ice blue eyes. “When we have to face him… or whoever is in your head,” Dettlaff begins, “I will be right by your side through the entire thing… I… believe in you.” She smiles, feeling the feeling of butterflies in her stomach again. 

“Thank you, Dettlaff. That… means more than you know.” Lora says, Dettlaff responding by saying ‘you’re welcome’ in their native tongue.

“Thi're mlachtin.”

_ I should make her something… perhaps something whittled that represents us both… hm… perhaps I should speak to Regis about this... _


	9. Discomfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.

For the rest of the night, Dettlaff stays inside his home in the harbour working on a project. Pieces of paper are scattered around him on his desk as he grabs a rather thick piece of a tree branch to begin whittling a figure out of. The vampire debarks the wood, making some marks with his pencil on where to begin carving. He occasionally looks down at his sketches composed of a moth along with a bat who is peeking out from behind the moth. 

Most of the following day goes by, and once the sun begins to set over Toussaint, Dettlaff gets a sudden whiff of someone extremely familiar to him as something flies through his window and appears nearby in the room. “Good morning my friend,” Regis begins, “I just wanted to fly by and ask if you…” that is the moment he notices the project Dettlaff is working on, “a new project? No wonder why we haven’t seen or heard from you all day. What is it you are working on?” Regis walks over to stand behind Dettlaff seated at his desk.

“I am making something for Lora.”

“Are you now? And what is it you are creating?”

“A bat and moth.” Dettlaff responds as Regis begins scanning the desk at the drawings and sketches along with Dettlaff’s various notes. Regis can’t help but smile, getting the feeling that he knows exactly what is going on. Dettlaff sighs before continuing. “Regis I know what you’re thinking-.”

“And am I right?”

“I… suppose somewhat.” Dettlaff sets down the wooden figure for a moment before looking up at Regis. “What do you think about her? Quite a long and interesting life she’s lived that’s for sure.”

“Most definitely. Over sixteen hundred years old, lived in our… homeworld,” Regis pauses, “and to top it all off the daughter of one of the most infamous higher vampires that has lived. Certainly a most interesting life. I can understand your intrigue. Now I must know, is that figurine a… gift of some sort?”

“Possibly.”

“Are you looking to get into another relationship?”

“Do you believe it is a bad idea?”

“Well… I am unsure. It has been what, a month or so since your last?” Regis pauses as Dettlaff looks up at him, a curious look coming from the dark haired vampire. “Whatever you feel is right, I will support you, my friend.” This makes Dettlaff smile.

“Thank you, Regis.”

“You are certainly welcome. Now, I may have a slight… problem that I am unsure how to bring up.” This peaks Dettlaff’s interest.  _ Regis having an issue he can’t solve by himself? _ Dettlaff thinks to himself,  _ hopefully it is not about Saska… _ “Saska has been acting, rather strangely. Ever since that night we all were at your home and she stayed to herself outside.”

_ Well shit… at least I know she hasn’t told him anything. _

“Strange? How so?” Dettlaff asks, acting like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about for the time being.

“Sometimes she appears to be a bit… distant. I showed her the book you recommended for her and it was indeed about her. Turns out I also had a copy of Vilgefortz’s book about the Elder Blood as well. That didn’t give her too many good feelings.”

“If I remember, that is relatively normal from what you explained? It could just be her nerves acting up again.”

“Possibly…” Dettlaff watches as the worry just floods over Regis’s face as he grasps the strap on his satchel a bit tighter.

“If you feel like it’s necessary then just ask her about it. You two tend to share everything with one another anyway.”

The two vampires continue to discuss a variety of things, while back at the crypt Saska is having a cup of tea while sitting outside. Lora paces inside the crypt before deciding to fly outside. She finds Saska rather immediately and decides to appear nearby. Saska, hearing footsteps behind her, turns and sees Lora.

“I need some advice.” Saska scooches to the right to make some room on the log for Lora as she joins her.

Saska smiles, looking at Lora. “It’s about Dettlaff isn’t it.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Well, after our talk the other day, I could just assume it may be about him. What’s on your mind? Have you decided on whether or not you want to pursue a relationship?”

“Well, I… what do you think I should do?”

“Hm… well you know I already approve… any customs you can do? Any old traditions?”

“I… suppose there are… creating something the other person would like. Or having someone make something- Wait…” Lora immediately can smell his scent hit her nostrils faintly, but it still is getting stronger over the course of a few seconds, “he’s coming.”

“Good luck!” Saska says teleporting away and back inside the crypt shutting the door, however still staying in earshot inside the building as she kneels below the small window. Dettlaff flies up and appears off to the left side of Lora, Lora looking over at him giving him a polite nod of her head.

Dettlaff nods back saying, “Good evening, hopefully I am not interrupting anything.” He can still smell Saska’s scent lingering in the air, knowing she was around just recently.

“No not at all,” Lora responds, pausing for a moment getting some butterflies in her stomach, “What do I owe the pleasure?”

“May I… sit?” He asks, Lora, similar to Saska, slides to the right to allow him to sit. He walks over, hands in his pockets as he sits down beside her. He sits in silence before he decides to pull out a small parcel wrapped in paper and holds it out towards Lora. “… here. This is for you.”

“For me?” She asks, taking the small item. Lora looks down at it in her hands before she begins to slowly unwrap it as Dettlaff responds.

“I sometimes find myself creating things, I… made this. For you. I… figured it may help calm tensions even a little bit.”

Unwrapping the item completely, Lora looks over the small wooden figure of a rather elegant looking moth, a bat popping out from behind it. She smiles wide, Dettlaff smiling as well. She lets her fingers run over the wood, feeling how smooth it is as she says to herself, “Ininc's… suarśu,” she then looks up at Dettlaff repeating herself, “It’s… it’s beautiful. Thank you.”

“Thi're mlachtin.” Dettlaff responds by saying, ‘you’re welcome’ to her in their native language which makes her smile even wider.

Dettlaff watches as her eyes glance down over at his moth pin on his lapel before looking back up into his eyes. He notices how her eyes dart around, looking over his face. From his view, he can see her fingers twitch over the figurine, her leg somewhat bouncing, but just enough for him to notice.

_ She’s nervous… shit… _

“Lora if… this makes you uncomfortable-.

“Dettlaff please, you…” Lora sits up a little straighter turning towards the vampire, “Nervous, absolutely… but never uncomfortable.” They both sit there, looking into one another's eyes, that is until she looks down and away from him, Dettlaff leaning slightly to try and see if he can figure out what she’s feeling.

“I’m sorry…” She says quietly.

“For?”

“For not just telling you all the truth right up front. It was a stupid lie that I regret deeply. You all are so kind and considerate and-.” Dettlaff cuts her off.

“And just how were you supposed to tell us that you were older than the Conjunction? Minus the other details.” 

Dettlaff raises his hand, but then hesitates for a second before caressing her cheek, Lora looking back up at him. Both of them say nothing, however, Lora brings up her hand to touch his that is touching her cheek. She leans in, taking a deep inhale of his scent as it completely engulfs her entire being. Dettlaff also takes a deep inhale, getting slightly high off of her scent as well. Lora opens her eyes letting her hand drop before looking at him, his hand lowering as well. 

“I…” Lora begins, feeling the overwhelming urge to mark him. “I need some air I’m getting urges I don’t want to act on.”

“To drink?”

“... Kind of.”

“Do you… want me to help you with it? I can offer my-.” The minute she sees him raise his hands to undo his top buckle of his jacket, she holds his hands stille.

“No- no… if I were to hurt you in any way I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. A bird or a rabbit or deer or something should be fine.”

Regis decides to fly around, and once he notices Lora and Dettlaff in a nearby field, he decides to fly back to his home and once inside, he sees Saska smiling like an idiot as she pops open a bottle of his mandrake brew.

“My my, don’t you look happy.”

“Well, if you heard what I did then you’d be happy too!”

“Lora and Dettlaff?” She pours herself a glass and corks it back up.

“Oh absolutely,” she takes a sip, “hell, it was like one of your romance novels coming to life right in front of me.”

“You like eavesdropping don’t you, my love.”

“Well, when it involves a scheme to get those two together then yes, I do. However I think Lora was having another urge again.” Regis gets a bit concerned.

“Is Dettlaff with her?” Saska nods her head yes, “Good. At least she has someone around with her.” 

Outside, Dettlaff and Lora completely disappear into thin air as she leads the way away from the crypt when they come across a group of deer, a few rabbits nearby as well. Lora appears behind a tree nearby first as Dettlaff appears right behind her. He leans down slightly to speak in a hushed tone as to not startle the wildlife.

“What do you wish to do?” Dettlaff asks her, now sensing her getting a bit more worked up. 

Without even a second thought, she flies as fast as possible towards one of the females, latching on with her now extended claws as her form takes on more exaggerated features. Her ears growing more pointed, her facial bone structure becoming more exaggerated and pointed, her fangs growing and her eyes becoming a solid purple color.

Dettlaff watches from a distance as the rest of the wildlife scatters as she sings her fangs into the deer, slowly lowering it to the ground as she kneels down beside it, cradling the animal in her arms. He waits, waiting for her to stop. But she doesn’t, not until the animal is completely drained and out of her arms. He gets the strong scent of blood in the air, thankfully not bothering him too much.

Lora stays knelt on the ground, blood dripping down her chin as she stares at the animal. She shuts her eyes, allowing herself to revel in the high for only a moment before she gets an extreme feeling of guilt rush over her. She then allows her more vampiric features to dissipate, Dettlaff now taking a few steps towards her, waiting for her to give an indication that he can approach. 

Lora runs her fingers through her hair leaning forward a bit more before sitting back on her heels. “I was doing so well…” She says mainly to herself, but Dettlaff can still hear her. 

_ She reminds me so much of Regis… _ Dettlaff thinks to himself as he watches the woman continue to self deprecate herself. That is until he speaks up.

“Overcoming something that has a strong hold on your life isn’t going to be easy. Good days, bad days...and days in between are going to happen.” Dettlaff then begins walking closer to her until he stops beside her, kneeling down and offering her a rag that he keeps in his pocket. She takes it, wiping off her chin and mouth, clutching it for some time. “I can take that from you.”

“No, no… I’ll wash it. It’s the least I can do.” Lora responds as she tucks the blood soaked rag in her pocket watching as Dettlaff offers her his hand. She hesitates, but eventually grabs his hand as he helps her up. Lora looks at their hands intertwined together, how big his hand is compared to hers… “We should um,” Lora begins getting a little flustered, “we should go. To see Regis.”

“Need his advice?”

“No I… Dettlaff I can’t put off seeing my father anymore.”

“Do you think it wise to go after a feeding?”

“I feel a bit more… guilty sure, but I am a bit more calm now. It could be the best time.”

The pair disappear into thin air at the same time, this time Dettlaff leading the way since he knows approximately where they came from. Within a few minutes they find their way back to Regis’s home and fly on inside, finding Saska and Regis sitting around conversing.

Regis looks over as the two reappear and smile. “Ah, well this is a pleasant surprise-.”

“Lora wishes to stop putting off seeing her father.” Dettlaff says rather plainly and quickly.

“… Alright, maybe not so pleasant then.” Regis responds, Saska standing up a bit straight and begins to talk specifically to Lora.

“Like, going to Tesham Mutna now?” Lora then nods her head yes, “Well… what’s the plan.”

“Plan?”

“No offense, but being in the same room with four higher vampires, especially your father is a bit nerve wracking.”

“You’re coming with me?” Lora glances at Regis, sensing that he is uncomfortable with the idea.

“Well… yeah of course. Aren’t we all?”

Dettlaff is the next to respond. “I know Regis and I had already planned to,” he begins as he looks at Lora, “You aren’t going to do this alone.”

“Wow um…” Lora responds, “graś thi, thank you guys so much. You… you really don’t know how much this means to me.”

Alright so,” Saska responds, clapping her hands together, “this is your show. What’s the plan?” 

Lora thinks for a moment before continuing. “I had planned on going down inside to find him. Or outside of the ruins if he’s just sitting idle against the wall or something. But after that… I suppose just hearing him out, hearing what he has to say to me.” She pauses before continuing, “But now that you guys are joining me… especially you, Saska, I… I really don’t know what he will do. I haven’t seen him in well over a millennium now and I have no idea what kind of person he has become.”

Regis grasps his satchel strap a bit tighter as he stands slightly closer to Saska. He responds next. “He could have changed… well, if you wish to leave now, we shall follow you. We have your back, Loralai. However, just know my primary goal is to keep Saska safe.”

“I suppose we shouldn’t delay this any longer.”


	10. Payment in Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.  
> \-----  
> This chapter gets intense, it gets a little crazy, and a bit long. Buckle up buckos. :)  
> Lot's of Etruscan thrown about in this chapter and translations if not explained in the text (even if they are explained), will be translated down below at the end notes.

The trio of vampires along with Saska all join together as the sun sets and the moon rises high in the sky, no conversation between them as they make their way towards Tesham Mutna. The pace is set by Lora, who, joined by Dettlaff, leads the group with Saska and Regis shortly behind them. Occasionally she drags her feet a bit, feeling quite nervous and anxious on the possibility of seeing her father after nearly a millennium. But soon enough, the group makes it to the outer courtyards of Tesham Mutna. 

Lora basically stops once they get closer to the door, the others eventually stopping as well. “So this is it…” Lora mutters taking a few more steps forward. “It’s crazy to even think this place still stands.” Saska looks to Lora, noticing her fingers fidgeting with her cloak.

“It’s a pretty stupid question, but are you going to be alright?”

“Probably not. But it will get harder to handle if I just stand here.” Lora walks up to what she assumes to be the door, feeling her fingertips get a slight warming sensation in them. Holding her hand up, palm to the wall, the slab of stone slides down revealing a long corridor going down inside the ruins. 

Lora is the first to go inside, followed swiftly by Dettlaff, then by Saska who very quickly summons a small light in the palm of her hand to illuminate the way, Regis bringing up the rear. “What was that you just did? I swear I saw a symbol appear or something.”

Regis is the one to answer as he follows her down the stairs. “It’s an ancient form of protection against unwanted guests. The mechanism only reacts to a higher vampires blood.”

“Gods I get extremely bad vibes from this place.”

“It will most likely get even worse I’m afraid. Whether it be the reason why this place exists, or the fact that it is almost as old as the Conjunction itself.” 

Lora adds to Regis and Saska’s conversation, “When the Conjunction tossed us into this world, Toussaint was where we arrived. It’s… understandable as to how this place survived. This place… this area… it was our home for a long time.”

The group very quickly walks through the first room which consists mainly of cages and crates and moves on to the large spiraling staircase that leads further down into Tesham Mutna. Lora and Dettlaff glance at the cages hanging from the ceiling, but Saska stops once she hits the staircase, Regis stopping behind her.

“Are those…? Gods…” 

_ Fear… _ Regis thinks to himself, the emotion radiating off Saska as she stands there staring up at the cages, some still with skeletons inside them.

He touches the small of her back looking at her. “Come one, it won’t do your sanity any good standing here staring at our races past mistakes. It certainly is a… stain for us as well.” The two continue on following their friends as Saska still continues to occasionally glance up. 

Eventually, the group finds themselves at the bottom of the staircase in another smaller room filled with chests, crates, smaller cages and a plethora of books. Lora starts to glance over what is in the room before rubbing her face a bit, still able to smell the stench of blood and death in the air as Saska as quickly as she can, looks through the books before she stumbles across one. She picks it up, brushing the dust off it.

“Human husbandry?” Saska says out loud, the three vampires looking at her, all extremely uncomfortable, but more so Regis and Dettlaff knowing what this place became. “What’s this about?”

“Ah, yes, well,” Regis begins, “the author of that specific book spent years breeding humans. Wrote down his findings… I have a copy at home locked away if you care to read it. I certainly don’t.”

“You have a copy?” Saska asks as she puts the book down, joining the group again. 

“Yes, I do. Mainly to remind myself where we were at our lowest. But like I said, I keep that one and a number of others we will likely find here locked away so I can try and forget about them. The… downside to being a book collector.” 

“What else was this place used for? Can’t just be for breeding if you have cages like that.” This is when she notices

Dettlaff is the one to respond to this question. “Tesham Mutna mainly served as a place for human experimentation. And feeding. Humans, mortals were treated like cattle before they were considered people.” 

As the group continues on down the hallway, Saska asks a side question here or there, but other than that, takes everything she is seeing in. From the cages and torture tools, to the vampire tribe glyphs etched into the stone walls lined with blood. Regis comes up alongside her and mutters, “ Are you doing alright, love?”

Saska shakes her head no. “Not really. This place… it gives me the chills.”

Dettlaff trudges ahead to be beside Lora who is just itching at the skin on her arms. “Are you doing alright? Must be hard to be in such a place.”

“No, I’m not. I feel like I want to vomit. I can still smell the death and blood. It’s… irritating to say the least.” Lora stops in ehr tracks and takes a long whiff of the air, getting the scent of another. “There’s someone else here.”

“How do you know?” Saska asks.

“The scent,” she looks to Dettlaff and Regis, “can you not smell it- sorry. Of course you don't, you wouldn’t know him.”

“...Him?” Regis asks and they all go silent as Lora begins looking around the tiny room and then eventually finds that on one of the crates, there is a weird looking square shape. Running her fingers over it, she finds that the dust smears over the area of no dust. 

“He’s here.” Lora says simply as they walk on into the large room with a single cage in the center of it. There, in the center of the room, stands a man with his back turned, something in his hand. Lora takes the lead with Dettlaff, Regis, and Saska coming in behind.

The man in the center of the room has a book in his hands.  
His hair is straight, black, and long, various braids falling over his locks.  
He wears extremely fine black clothes, a red cloth cloak draped over his left shoulder, falling elegantly down his body. 

The man turns around and looks at the group. 

He has a goatee groomed to a point below his chin.   
His facial features are extremely pronounced.

The man shuts the book, beginning to speak directly to Lora. 

“Loralai… look at you.” 

“Father.” She says, a bit of disdain in her voice. The other the others in the room immediately grow tense at the situation at hand, getting the positive that this is her father, Khagmar. 

Khagmar’s eyes notice the written scars on her arm, making him grin becoming a bit nostalgic as he continues to speak to her. “You look just like your mother...”

Lora responds as she takes another step forward. “What do you want with me? Why do you keep trying to talk to me? And why here of all places?”

“I figured you could use a slight history lesson. But… well, I wasn’t expecting an audience.” 

“Well an audience is what you got.” She hesitates, “Where’s mother?” Khagmar looks away from his daughter, Lora squints her eyes at him before taking one step forward. “… You know where she is… where is she. Where is my brother?” 

The next thing Lora knows, is that she feels a presence in her head, her father's voice echoing through it.  _ “Lora please-.” _

“No,” Lora begins saying out loud, “whatever you have to say you will say it out loud for everyone to hear.”

He sighs before continuing, “Your brother I do not know his whereabouts, but your mother… she’s… she’s dead.”

The room has an uncomfortable silence inside it. You could almost hear Saska’s breathing with how deafley silent it is. 

“... No…” Lora responds breathlessly, taking a step backward, “no that’s… that’s impossible…” she pauses, getting increasingly mad, “you’re lying.”

“Lora, please just-.”

“No. We’re doing things my way.” Lora takes a few steps forward, her eyes becoming a pure purple hue as she telepathically enters her father's mind with little resistance. “I demand to know what happened to my mother.  _ Now _ .”

Without a second thought, her father speaks. “She was protecting a small town when I went on a binge one night. She was in my way. I told her if she did not stand down I would make her and-.” 

Lora drops the mind control, turning around unable to face her father. The trio at the entrance notices her hands clenching, her eyes shutting tight as she attempts to keep herself together. Lora grinds her teeth together as she speaks.

“You… you  _ monster _ …”

“Lora… please just listen to me.” Khagmar responds, rubbing his temples from the slight headache he has from the mind control, and the fact that he is getting a bit annoyed from her lack of listening. “… It’s the biggest regret of my life.”

Lora turns around slowly, staring her father down, “How… dare you. How… fucking dare you.”

He stands completely straight, looking at his daughter who refuses to listen to a word he says. He speaks plainly. “I see you will not hear out why I had asked you to come here.”

“Why would I?! You,  _ killed _ my mother! How could I just ignore that?!”

Khagmar looks back past his pacing daughter to see the others standing nearby the one hallway leading outside. He looks at both vampires first before staring directly at Saska. He takes a long whiff, smelling her blood, the firey scent hitting his nostrils unlike any mortal’s blood he has ever smelled.

_ Two men… vampire men at that, and-... hello… who are you? _

“I see you have gained a pack.” He says simply.

Lora stops pacing, staring at her father as Regis instinctively in front of Saska as Dettlaff does the same. Both stand in such a way that if needed, they could be ready to fight if need be. Regis slightly turns his head, whispering to Saska.

“ Leave…  _ now _ .” Regis whispers as Khagmar continues.

“Oh, look… at… this… The  _ Hen Ichaer _ … Elder Blood… saviour of elves, savior of the mortal realm…”

Lora responds before her father can continue, hissing through her teeth. “Don’t you  _ dare _ look at her.”

Upon noticing his mate has not left yet and senses pure fear radiating from her, Regis then turns his head back again and whispers, “What in the Gods are you waiting for?”

Lora stands strong and her father turns and looks at her, a grin on his face. “And what are you going to do about it, hm? Kill me?” Through Khagmars slight laughter, Regis turns and faces him, speaking loud enough for him to hear. Regis, for the first time in his life, speaks before he thinks about what he is about to say.

“It is not your daughter you should be worried about.”

Khagmar stares the significantly younger vampire down, glaring at him which makes Regis take a final step forward to be in between Saska and Khagmar. 

“The little Elder Blood has a pack… a shame really. Your blood smells  _ intoxicating _ .”

The very second Khagmar’s features change to more vampiric, so do the other vampires as he flies at supersonic speed towards the group. Saska begin absolutely frozen in fear, instinctively turns around and puts her hand up, tightly shutting her eyes waiting to be thrown into the wall behind her.

But yet  
Nothing happens

In fact, it’s been some time and she realizes she doesn’t hear anything.

No yelling, no growling, hissing  
Absolutely void of all sound

Curious, she opened her eyes and that is when she sees a bright blue and green light glowing against the stones of the walls. Turning her head, she sees the bracelet glowing bright as some magical streams of pure energy swirl around her arm before dissipating into thin air. And at this moment, upon looking out at her bracelet on her wrist, she notices that the three vampires are frozen in time, right before Khagmar is able to get to the group. All their vampiric features are in full effect, Lora appearing as if she is in the middle of a full transformation into her large bat-like form.

“… Holy shit… did I… Oh my god… oh my god oh my god… okay, okay this is fine.” Taking a deep breath in and out, she continues to talk to herself, trying to make sense of the situation. “… What do I do now… okay Saska just, talk it through… Everyone is frozen in time, you are not. Your friends, who all just so happen to be higher vampires are ready to fight, Khagmar is in mid flight and the dimeritium stones in the bracelet are now glowing… Well, no time like the present to figure this out.”

Afraid that if she lowers her hand that it will stop the spell, she keeps it out, focusing on the power that she can very much feel radiating around her wrist and up her arm.  _ Alright, so let’s see if I can make these guys move… _ she thinks to herself focusing on Regis first, and very quickly, she is able to effortlessly pick his motionless body up off the ground and almost teleport him to the other side of the room.  _ OH WOW OKAY so that does work! _ She then does so with Dettlaff, and attempts to do so with Lora, but for whatever reason it does not work.  _ Might be because she’s too large? No matter, she’s not in Khagmar’s path. _

Saska begins to walk slowly to the other side of the room, keeping an eye on everyone as she keeps her hand up. With Dettlaff and Regis on the opposite side of the room from where they once were, Saska stops once she reaches a quarter of the way to them on the left hand side of the large room. Taking another deep breath in, she focuses on the bracelet, thinking about stopping whatever power she just figured out which does make time resume. 

She watches as Khagmar slams into the wall they were all standing at as Lora begins stalking around him but looking around confused as to where he friends went but resumes stalking her father once she sees everyone. Saska on the other hand, looks to Regis and Dettlaff who also look around the room before looking at her. Khagmar stands up appearing a bit shaken as he turns his head looking at the Elder Blood, glaring at her. 

He begins to get ready to charge at her once more, the others in the room not having enough time to react as they watch her raise her arm as the bracelet begins to glow like mad, illuminating the whole room within a few seconds as her eyes begin glowing the same color as a beam of pure light shoots out from her hand and hits Khagmar back against the wall, stunning him for a minute, long enough for Lora to fly over, pick him up in her claws at the end of her wings and throws him into the cage in the center of the room as Dettlaff comes over to lock it. 

As Khagmar attempts to get out of the cage, Lora stalks around it, hissing at him as Dettlaff stays a distance away, watching the two as Regis flies over to Saska who has now fallen to her knees feeling quite winded. She watches the giant grey and black bat circle the cage, Dettlaff circling some distance away as her vision is blocked by a familiar coat. Regis grasps her upper arms before caressing her face as his eyes dart around to see if she is at all hurt. 

“I’m… I’m fine Regis,” Saska begins, “just winded. Really winded.” 

Once she stops speaking, a pack of bats fly through the room, their chirps echoing through Tesham Mutna, making the vampires stop and looking up at them as they fly overhead. Saska watches this phenomenon and speaks up. 

“What just-.?”

“The Unseen,” Regis says, his voice low and gravely, “we need to leave. Now.”

Lora rather quickly leaves her bat-like form, grabbing Dettlaff’s hand and runs over to Regis and Saska position as the vampires one by one lose their vampiric features. All except for Khagmar who is still yelling in his native tongue in the cage in the center of the room.

“Where do we need to go? I can portal-.”

“Absolutely not,” Regis says, picking her up and cradles her in his arms, “not in this state.” 

The group runs extremely quickly out of Tesham Mutna and don’t stop until they are well outside and in the front courtyard. Dettlaff immediately goes to console Lora who is leaning her hands against a crumbling wall outside as Regis sits Saska down on a slab of stone on the ground, kneeling down beside her as he does so. 

“Regis I told you, I’m fine.” Regis obviously grows a little frustrated. 

“Oh really now? So within the snap of my fingers Dettlaff and I are on the other side of the room as if we were teleported there, you are also in a different position which would require teleportation for you to move that far, the bracelet was glowing as bright as the noontime sun and your eyes were glowing as well. Oh, and let’s not forget that blast you sent Khagmars way.”

Saska is a bit surprised at his outburst as she leans her arms on her knees looking at him before looking down at her bracelet on her wrist. She hears Regis sigh before seeing his hand hold onto hers.

“I’m glad you were not hurt… certainly glad this thing of yours managed to help us out too.” He notices as she says nothing, and doesn’t even look at him for a while. “Saska, I’m… sorry if my outburst made you upset. It was just an extremely tense situation.”

“No harm no foul. But… Regis do you know what this means?” Saska stands and holds her left hand up, the bracelet beginning to glow. “It works! The dimeritium works!”

“What did you do exactly?” He asks as the two other vampires join them. 

“I stopped time.” Saska says, Dettlaff is the first to speak.

“Did you just say what I believe you said?” He asks, Saska nodding her head excitedly. “Are you able to replicate it?” 

Saska looks around looking for something to test it on when a very familiar raven lands on her shoulder, cawing at her. “Oh hey buddy! You um…” she holds her bracelet up to the raven before it caws and flies away. Saska holds her arm out, focusing her powers on the bracelet as it glows bright along with her eyes before time stops yet again.

However all of time is stopped again. 

“Oh… huh… well I suppose that makes sense.” Lowering her hand, she let’s the spell go and time resumes as normal, the vampires looking around a bit confusingly as Saska explains. “All of time stopped again. So either that is all I can do, or that is all I can do for the time being.”

Lora perks up and stares directly at Tesham Mutna, Dettlaff first noticing her staring the building down, fear beginning to pour off her body. She turns to look at him, then to Saska before yelling, “Everyone get down!” Lora grabs Dettlaff, pulling him down to the ground with her, and in that exact moment, two men fly out of Tesham Mutna, making a huge hole in one of the outer walls before hitting a wall in the far end of the courtyard.

Luckily, Regis was able to grab Saska in his arms, pulling her down to the ground covering her body with his own. Saska falls to the ground, Regis taking most of the fall for himself rather than her as he takes on his more vampiric features, ready for whatever is happening in the courtyard.

The group watches as the two men separate, The Unseen Elder on one end of the courtyard as Khagmar stands up on the other side. Both with their fangs and claws extended, hissing and growling at one another.

“Thi cau hufir.” Khagmar says in a low growl to the Elder before charging the Elder, finding that the Elder stops him dead in his tracks with one hand. The two are almost nose to nose, Khagmar again, throwing insults to tempt the old vampire. “Thi hafur ei dursm vuscr.”

“Regis,” Saska says, still being shielded by Regis’s body, “if you could translate, that would be fantastic.” She says in a bit of a panic, Regis responding, his voice reverbing deep within his chest.

“Khagmar just said that the Unseen is weak… that… that he does not have a backbone.” As Regis translates as quickly as possible as Dettlaff looks to Lora who is looking up at him absolutely terrified.

“We need to cover Saska.  _ Now. _ ” Lora says in a panic as she pulls Dettlaff towards where their friends are. But in that exact moment, Khagmar manages to gain the upper hand and send the Unseen Elder flying towards Regis and Saska.

Saska, for the first time in a long time, watches as her entire life flashes before her eyes. Flashes over her over three century life like little moments in time.

Her home of Tir na Lia  
Her parents and childhood friends  
Avallac’h and their travels together  
Her time in the Temerian court and her children  
The Witchers of Kaer Morhen

_ Regis... _

She sits up just enough to hold her arms out, the dimeritium stones on her bracelet glowing as a bright light blue beam of magic spirals up her arms until they illuminate her eyes as she grabs the Elder out of the air, stabilizing him on the ground. He glances over his shoulder, watching the mortal before charging Khagmar one last time, slamming him into one of the far cobblestone walls sinking his claws deep within the vampire’s chest. 

Lora watches, frozen in her spot as she watches her father slowly die.   
The screams she hears, the blood that pools around his eventual lifeless body. 

The very second it hits her nose, she begins to itch.  
Extremely quickly, practically frozen in her spot as she attempts to at least quell the urge to drink from anything around her. 

What brings her out of her daze is Regis yelling, “Saska?... Saska don’t move you’re extremely weak- Saska please, listen.” She turns her attention to Regis, who is pulling Saska off the ground and holding her in his arms as she looks around, extremely dazed. Dettlaff runs over to them, kneeling beside his friends as Saska responds.

“I’m… I’m fine, I’m just… exhausted…” She says breathlessly, attempting to control her breathing, “it’s fine… I’m fine.” Regis’s eyes dart across her face, making sure she isn’t lying to him.

She isn’t lying.    
Completely.

This is when Dettlaff turns and looks back at Lora who is somewhat in mid transformation. He notices her fingers fidgeting with each other, her foot somewhat bouncing, Lora looking as if it would kill her if she would stand still as she stares across at her father's lifeless body. Dettlaff walks over to her standing directly in front of her as their chests practically touch. Lora, as she is somewhat forced to with her gaze being blocked, looks up at Dettlaff. 

His eyes begin darting around her face, the space between his eyebrows crinkling together as he grabs her upper arms, just enough to hold her still. Lora shudders a bit from the touch, before meeting his gaze and not looking away from his eyes as she begins to slowly return to her mortal-like form, still holding Dettlaff’s gaze. 

_ Don’t worry… I have you… _ Dettlaff thinks to himself as the Elder, across the courtyard, speaks in a low growl.

“Thunz ani thau ἅρθ, lichiul eri mini βάλμα… heva nir thi” Once he finishes speaking, he disappears rather quickly from sight as Saska sits up a bit more.

“What did he say?” She asks, Regis translating again.

“That once you are strong enough,” he hesitates, making Saska look up at him, “that we need to go see him… Saska, please understand, that this… a mortal speaking to the Unseen, hell, even the Unseen wanting to speak to a mortal in the first place is… unheard of.” This is exactly the moment he turns and notices Dettlaff and Lora in somewhat of an embrace before the two vampires join Regis and Saska.

As Regis continues to make sure Saska is alright, Dettlaff keeps an extremely watchful eye over Lora as she stands nearby, looking over at her father's lifeless body. She begins walking towards the body, feeling a bit… conflicted at the sight. Dettlaff follows her, but a few steps behind to give her some space. 

Lora stops once she reaches the body. It’s limp, laying over one of the crumbled cobblestone walls, the blood flowing down the wall and pooling on the ground below him. She stands there beside him, looking down at him for some time until she turns around to walk back towards the group towards the entrance to Tesham Mutna. But that is when she almost bumps into Dettlaff who is standing a few feet away.

All she can smell is blood, however she can’t seem to look away.  
Or move away.

“Are you alright?” He asks her quietly as Lora walks over to him. She says nothing, only wraps her arms around his torso burying her face into his chest. She grasps the back of his jacket, cursing under her breath in their native tongue. He stays silent, holding her close, scratching the back of her head. He stays silent for a while, allowing her some time to work through whatever is going on in her head.

“Graś thi Dettlaff… graś thi.”

“You’re welcome.” That is when he rests his head on the top of hers, nuzzling into her hair as he takes in a long whiff of her scent, relishing in it as she does the same with him.

It takes some time, but Saska does feel strong enough to stand and able to walk around, and Lora eventually is ready to leave her father where he lays. Saska suggests a portal, the vampires agreeing to at least portal near the cave to save some time.

Saska summons a rather large portal in the courtyard, and as the group walks through, pair by pair, Saska then remembers the conversation she had with Gaunter.

_ An Elder being asking to speak to me… shit it’s happening, isn’t it.... _

In fact, just before she walks through the portal, she happens to look up and sees Gaunter sitting in a nearby tree, smiling down at her.

_ Fucking hell… just breathe Saska. You got this... _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rough Translations:
> 
> “Thi cau hufir.” = "You are weak."  
> “Thi hafur ei dursm vuscr.” = "You have no backbone."
> 
> “Thunz ani thau ἅρθ, lichiul eri mini βάλμα… heva nir thi” = "Once she is strong, come to my cave… all of you."
> 
> “Graś thi Dettlaff… graś thi.” = "Thank you Dettlaff... thank you."


	11. What Lies Unseen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.

The group arrives not too far from the cave entrance, Regis able to lead the way rather quickly as Lora and Dettlaff regain their footing from the portal trip. The group begins their trek down inside the cave’s entrance, Regis then hanging back to speak to Saska who is bringing up the rear of the group. 

He smells fear absolutely pouring off of her. It also doesn’t help that she can’t get Gaunter O’Dimm and what he had said to her out of her mind.

“How are you holding up, dear?” Regis asks, knowing the answer to the question deciding to ask anyway.

“How am I holding up? I feel stressed and like I’m about to pass out but other than that I’m fine.” Saska responds dryly and quickly. She pauses in her speech as she grasps Regis’s hand quickly and tightly. “I… I’m a bit stressed out, Regis. Any tips about dealing with the Unseen?”

“Follow our lead. That is the best advice I can give.” 

In front of them, Lora is practically glued to Dettlaff’s hip, his hand hovering on her back feeling the nervousness radiating off of her. He says nothing, only allows her to do what she needs to be as calm as possible. He can’t lie either, he’s downright nervous to be in the same cave as the Unseen let alone summoned.

Soon enough, the quartet finds themselves inside the main cave room, the Unseen standing tall upon a small platform above the rest of the room. Regis and Dettlaff avoid eye contact, bowing with heads down completely with Lora following suit. Saska, out of pure habit, looks up at him, but the minute she makes eye contact she follows the other vampires leads and bows, avoiding eye contact at all cost. Upon hearing the lack of anything from his companions, Regis is the first to speak up, still in the bowed position.

“Mine cau clthi aen thini uzumec.” Regis says, announcing their arrival, the Unseen zipping at the speed of light down to the group, standing just behind Saska. 

“Thau ani me thu? Me Elder Cuth?” He asks Regis, asking if Saska is indeed the Elder Blood woman, the group very quickly realizing he is now behind them. Especially Saska. Regis pauses before answering. 

“Ani thau.” Regis says rather simply, attempting to be as calm and collected as possible. 

The Unseen takes the group in as they one by one stand upright, only glancing over their shoulders to look in his direction. All except Saska who has yet to notice the group standing. Regis grazes his hand on her shoulder, making her realize it is alright to stand up. 

“Loralai Atruste-Pulmchava…” The Unseen says before taking a step around to be able to look her directly in the eyes. His speech is extremely long and drawn out. “Your… father… has been dealt with. And has paid the price for his actions… as for you…” he pauses, “you are free to go as you may please, none of our kind will hunt you… not anymore....”

The Unseen takes another step back, Lora feeling an extreme weight relieved from her shoulders at the mere mention of her being able to live her life without fear of being hunted by her own kind. However, now that he is finished with Loralai, the mortal in the room is the one he looks to next. Saska meets his gaze, fear radiating off her body as he comes closer to her until he is practically chest to chest. Regis watches close by, unsure as to what to make of the situation. He gets this strange feeling, similar to what mortals explain as fight or flight.

Saska refuses to look him directly in the eye out of mainly fear, but also a tinge of respect.

“You do not speak our native tongue…” The Unseen says rather plainly. “Correct?”

“Not fluently.” Saska responds rather quickly.

“I was… unsure if you would appear unlike your companions…” The Unseen says motioning to the three other vampires in the cave. “I have hold over them… but mortals are… trickier…  _ messier _ …” Saska gets chills that shoot down her spine.

_ Honesty might be the best way to go here, _ she thinks to herself as she takes a moment to gather her thoughts before speaking.

“I will follow my mate to the ends of the universe, no matter where that takes me.” 

The Unseen takes in this statement, looking over at Regis before looking back to Saska. 

“You… have made a name for yourself,” he pauses, “Elder Cuth… what is your name?”

“Saska Riannon Dorren.”

“ _ Saska _ ... I have a task I wish to discuss with you.” Saska says nothing, still not making direct eye contact. “Look at me…” doing as he says, she notices how yellow his eyes are. “You have inexplicable power… power that could be used to help us… our people… the ones you call…  _ friends _ …” Immediately, the group is suddenly whisked away in a matter of a second to a separate room that shoots off from the main cave system. The group takes a moment to steady themselves as the Unseen motions to the end of the rather large offshoot of the cave. “This… is where the portal to our homeworld once was… You are able to portal… from dimension and universe…” He looks over his shoulder to make direct eye contact with Saska, her understanding rather quickly as to what he is suggesting.

“Are… you asking for me to attempt to open a portal to your home?”

“Attempt?” The Unseen asks, utter silence casting itself over the group.

_ Shit shit shit Saska just say something to save your ass! _

“Well…” she begins, “attempting, yes. I would be... essentially creating another Conjunction by myself. It may work, but… I’m unsure if it will actually work. I’ve never done something like this before.”

“But you are… willing.”

“...Yes. I am.” She can feel all eyes go to her as the Unseen continues to speak. 

“... Feel free to come and go as you please…” he then suddenly flies up to the ceiling, positioning himself to be hung from the top of the cave, his words echoing around them, “ _ keep me… informed… _ ”

Saska takes a huge sigh of relief as she begins looking around the room, taking in as much detailing as possible. 

_ Alrighty… so let’s see what we’re working with… we have a small cave offshoot… wait… is that… a ring that goes around the entire thing? _

Upon further investigation, Saska finds a rather clear looking rock formation that goes completely around the room. She touches it, but she’s unsure as to whether or not she feels any different especially with how nervous she is. Regis is the first to come over to her as she touches the wall. 

“Are you looking for anything in particular?”

“This… you see how there is a very clear ring starting on the ground and going around the entire corridor? This would be a perfect place for a portal.” She then walks away from the wall, still following the rocks as she kneels down running her fingers through the dirt and dust on the ground. “Interesting…”

“No offense, but how is dust interesting my dear?”

“There’s a very clear line of it, almost lining up with the line of rocks around us… Lora?”

“Yes?” The female vampire asks.

“Weird question, but go with me on this. Does this dirt and dust remind you of anything from your home?” Lora comes over and kneels down beside Saska taking some of it in her palm. Bringing it up to her nose, she takes a short sniff and immediately becomes incredibly nostalgic of the scent. 

“... Yes… yes it is… soot and brimstone… it’s… wow I, never thought I would get to smell it again…” Immediately, Saska summons a small pouch and begins gathering the dust with the help of Lora before tying the bag up and de-summoning it into thin air to be grabbed later on. “What’s the plan with the dust?” Lora asks curiously.

Saska responds, but loud enough to where the Unseen Elder would most definitely hear it. “I may need to come back here at some point, but having this dust being from that dimension will help me. I’m still unsure as to if I could even locate it, however having this will make things easier.” Regis begins feeling incredibly uneasy about the whole situation, but stays quiet as the group begins their trek to leave the cave, deciding on walking instead of portaling. Saska takes notice of this rather quickly and questions him once they’re outside.

“Regis, is everything okay?” She asks, placing a hand on his arm. 

“Since you asked, no, everything is not alright. Saska, dear, you said it yourself. If you were to successfully locate this dimension, our homeworld, you would be creating another Conjunction by yourself. Something that was beginning to happen right before Ciri managed to destroy the Wild Hunt. Are you... certain you wish to do this?”

“I have to at least try don’t I?” She hesitates, seeing the concern littered all over his face. “Do you think it’s a bad idea?”

“I… do not know as of yet. But it does give me an incredibly bad feeling.” Looking at Saska, he notices how her eyes dart around, her fingers itching at the sides of her thighs. “Is there something you are not telling me?” He asks rather directly. 

“I…” Saska hesitating gains the attention of the entire group. “There’s someone I need to speak to… rather soon. Immediately actually.”

“At this time of night?” Regis questions. “Who could you possibly need to speak with at this time of night and at this specific moment? Especially after what we had just discussed with the Unseen?”

“t’s… how do I explain this…” Saska takes a minute to gather her thoughts, and as much information about the man as she remembers, “A man that goes by Gaunter O’Dimm. He’s this… I don’t believe he’s human? He said that he had a proposition for me, that an ‘Elder being’ would contact me and give me a job. Well, he was certainly right about that part. He has a job for me, and that I should go talk to him and at least hear him out once I am contacted.”

“And you are just going to blindly listen to him? Saska, I do not wish to question your reasoning here, however I feel like this is the worst idea you've ever had. You do not even know if he is human which does not give me any good feeling about this meeting.” He pauses. “Especially since you had neglected to tell me any of this.”

Immediately, Dettlaff speaks up, not wanting Saska to get chewed out like this alone. “I knew as well.” Both Regis and Saska turn their heads looking at him. Regis is utterly surprised, and Saska a bit grateful he spoke up but surprised as well as Dettlaff continues. “I asked her if she wished for you to know and she asked me to keep it in confidence. She did not wish for you to freak out as you normally do.”

“Regis,” Saska says, grabbing his hands forcing him to look back at her, “please just-... I can’t explain it all that well right now. But let me just hear the man out.”

“Hear him out…” Regis pauses, looking a tad disgusted at the sheer thought of her having this much of a lapse of judgement, “and end up in some agreement that you cannot get out of? It is certainly bad enough that the Unseen has asked for your assistance but… What did this Gaunter O’Dimm promise you that you can’t already obtain? What you already have? Surely this job would not come clear of strings and attachments. Saska, you… you normally have the clearest of heads and are able to think logically, nothing about this seems logical or safe.”

Saska finds it impossible to speak, able to clearly see Regis upset with her. She does not have time to think about what to say as a bitter cold breeze blows through the trees as Gaunter appears sitting in one of the trees. “Alright, this is taking too long for my liking.” He says as Regis takes a step in front of Saska, Dettlaff and Lora also coming to her side, claws at the ready. 

“Is it a yes or no Saska.” Gaunter demands. 

Immediately, Regis comes forward and begins asking a question burning at his mind. “And who are you-.” 

Gaunter rather immediately cuts him off by raising his hand, “Permt sva eri satir ” He can tell the reaction from the vampires, the surprise on their faces is exactly what he was looking to obtain from the group as they continue to almost shield Saska with their own bodies. However, he still continues to speak directly to Saska as he stares her down. “Would you like a reminder on what I could offer you?” She says nothing. “ Wealth, power… immortality… anything you could possibly desire-.”

“No.” She responds simply and firmly, making him smack his lips.

“Hm… such a shame. We would have made an  _ excellent _ team... Goodbye, Saska.”

With that, the man disappears rather immediately into thin air. Saska breathes a sigh of relief as the vampires begin looking around the immediate area until his scent completely dissipates, signifying that he is truly gone. Lora though almost immediately is the first to make a comment on the situation.

“We should’ve killed whoever he was.”

“I don’t think we could’ve.” Saska responds rather quietly as she looks at her friend, Lora looking genuinely surprised at Saska’s response.

“Three higher vampires and an Elder Blood with some crazy powers she just came into? Nothing would be able to stop us.” This is when Dettlaff gets a weird feeling starting in the pit of his stomach, and judging by how Regis is watching Saska as she leans against a nearby tree, that feeling is coming from him. 

_ He’s upset… _

“Don’t blame her.” Dettlaff says rather openly to Regis, his friend responding.

“And you believed to not tell me that my mate could have been in possible danger?” 

Saska beats Dettlaff to it. “I asked him to not tell you.” She pauses a moment. “I figured we were all a little stressed already and didn’t need any more worry. Don’t blame him. Please.” Dettlaff can still feel the intense unease in the air between the two and immediately decides they truly do need some space.

“Well, we all have been through a lot tonight. We should all go home, get some rest.” Thankfully, the group agrees, Lora walking off with Dettlaff to go to his home as Regis and Saska go back to their crypt.

Dettlaff and Lora’s walk to his home in Beauclair is rather quiet, that is until Dettlaff shuts the door. As he locks it, he turns to look at Lora who rather quickly, plops down in one of the chairs in the corner of the first floor of the home.

“That certainly was an eventful night,” Dettlaff begins, “Are you alright?”

“I feel… overwhelmed… but I… guess I’ll be okay.”

“You guess?” Dettlaff raises an eyebrow as he walks over to where Lora is seated, kneeling down in front of her. Lora looks at him, beginning to explain herself a bit better.

“My father is… dead… I feel… a weird sense of… satisfaction? I’m upset, I’m overwhelmed, I’m…” Lora stops speaking, rubbing her face attempting to control her emotions a bit more but then her mind immediately drifts to Saska, “and Saska… what was that about? You knew about it?” Dettlaff takes plenty of time to explain exactly what he had witnessed and seen, Lora listening intently to him until he stops. “Hopefully they are alright… I do hope they don’t get into too much of an argument…” Lora says trailing off a bit. 

“They need some space either way.”

Further to the south, Regis and Saska take a silent and somewhat tense walk back home to the cemetery, both lost in their heads as they eventually get down inside the crypt. Saska takes some time and leans up against one of the side tables, crossing her arms in front of her chest as Regis sets down his satchel, standing still beside his work desk for a while. The entire crypt is almost completely silent, the only thing audible is the wind blowing through the trees outside. 

Regis is the first to speak.

“We need to speak about what happened. And I most certainly do not mean the Unseen at the moment.”

“Yeah… definitely.”

“What exactly happened between you and this man?” Regis asks rather directly. Saska takes a deep breath as she gathers her thoughts before explaining the situation.

“The night we were all together at Dettlaff’s, remember how I had sat outside for a while?” Regis nods his head yes, “I had begun hearing… someone playing a flute. So, being curious I followed it. I eventually had found myself at Count de la Croix’s mill. The man, Gaunter, I had seen him twice before actually. Once at that random small festival we went dancing in, and then in Nazair. He began… speaking to me. And literally walked down through the air like he was walking on steps… stopping the water from the shore from moving and rippling…. He started… casting some form of illusion magic. Creating a crazy whirlwind of dust and air around me… testing me. Testing to see if he could break me. He… almost did…” Regis notices the slight shift her her stance as her body tenses a bit more, “he casted an illusion of Vilgefortz coming out of the mill… saying this, this absolute shit saying I could’ve gone to him for my questions on the dimeritium.” 

To Regis, it now is all starting to come together. “So that is why you had brought him up.”

“That’s exactly why…” She pauses for a moment before continuing, “He gave me a proposition. Soon, an ‘Elder being’ would contact me for a task. If I went back to Gaunter to hear what job he had for me, and if I succeeded, I could get anything I ever wanted.”

“And that is all?”

“Well, apparently around the time he was testing me, Dettlaff was watching off in the distance. But… Please Regis don’t blame him. I made things more difficult. I didn’t want any other stress in the group and I asked him to not tell you.” Regis says nothing as Saska hesitates, lowering her voice a tad, “but yes, that is essentially what happened… He knew so much about me… my name, who I was, the fact that I was Queen. But he did say twofold.” This piques Regis’s curiosity. “Surprisingly, that wasn’t the one that threw me off the most.” She hesitates before looking at Regis, meeting his gaze. “He said ‘future Mrs. Godefroy.’”

She notices how Regis goes to grab his satchel strap out of habit when he gets a bit nervous or flustered. However, when he then remembers he has set it down already, he then looks away from her gaze. 

“Well… that certainly is interesting…” Regis responds in an almost inaudible whisper. Saska says nothing, and Regis does the same, losing himself in deep thought.

_ He must be a mage of some kind… a mind reader perhaps? Sure I had planned on doing something for her similar to that of mortal engagement but… I hadn’t even told Dettlaff yet. How could he have known? Future Mrs… Queen of Temeria Twofold?  _

Saska, getting a tad nervous, decides to break the silence by thinking out loud.

“I understand how you feel… it was a stupid idea.” Regis looks over at Saska as she looks around the room as she speaks, “Immortality… I should’ve known it was a stupid thought...” This is when he notices how she begins to radiate not only nervousness, but frustration and regret. He also notices the slight change in her voice as it begins to waver. “It isn’t like the idea will just leave my head for the rest of my life. Knowing that… one day, I won’t be here anymore. And you will-.”

“Saska, love-.”

“The idea of putting you through the emotional trauma of my eventual death I-...” She stops herself from speaking as clutches the side table she is leaning against extremely tight, trying her damndest not to begin to get overly upset and get to the point of crying. Regis can see her clutching the table tighter along with her heartbeat begin to quicken as he walks closer to her, waiting a moment allowing her to take a breath. Almost in a whisper, she says, “I already lost a number of people in my life and I was never there to even say goodbye…”

“Do you regret this?” Saska looks at him, a bit surprised at his question.

“Absolutely not. This… what we have is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”

“Then it was all worth it.”

“But-.”

“Saska, if you believe I regret us meeting, and what we have built together in, realistically a rather short time, then you are sorely mistaken.” Regis stops once he is directly in front of her as he rests his hands on top of hers on the table she is clutching, rubbing his thumbs on the tops of her hands, “Aé minne taedh, Saska.” Regis says, “I love you so much.” Saska feeling her cheeks warm up from the blush that makes Regis smile. 

“After all this time and a simple ‘I love you’ still makes me blush.” Saska attempts to look away, but Regis stops her by bringing his right hand to caress her cheek, every so gently moving her face to look back up at him. 

“No, please don’t look away… you are beautiful when you blush.” This makes Saska blush even more, Regis then wrapping his arms around her body to pull her into his body to kiss her once on her forehead before resting his head on the top of her head as she reciprocates the embrace. The pair stays like this for quite a while, just losing themselves in one another's embrace until they decide to rest for the rest of the night in bed. Regis climbs in first as he sits up against the back wall, Saska climbing into bed to lay between his legs and on his chest. It isn’t long until she falls fast asleep, Regis planting one last kiss on the top of her head as he as well, shuts his eyes to clear his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Mine cau clthi aen thini uzumec.” - "We are here at your word." - Etruscan with a single word of Elder Speech
> 
> “Thau ani me thu? Me Elder Cuth?” - "Is she the one? The Elder Blood?" - Etruscan
> 
> “Ani thau.” - "She is." - Etruscan
> 
> “Permt sva eri satir." - "Allow her to speak." - Etruscan
> 
> "Aé minne taedh, Saska.” - "I love you, Saska."


	12. Distractions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.

Saska and Regis over some time begin noticing just how much time Lora and Dettlaff spend together. Privately. Lora is now beginning to stay over and hang around Dettlaff more so than Regis, now getting advice from Dettlaff which doesn’t worry Regis in the slightest. He trusts Dettlaff with his entire being, especially with their blood pact and how close that one event made them. 

Ever since The Night with Lora’s father and the Elder’s fight, Lora has been increasingly twitchy, not wanting to drink whatsoever, however Dettlaff is really feeling that she truly does need at least a little bit of blood.

Or at least a distraction. Something to focus her energy on. 

As he comes upstairs with a paper pad and some graphite pencils, he watches as she is sitting on a stool in the corner of the room while leaning against one of the walls staring off into space. That is until she notices him after a few seconds. 

“Could I ask you to stay still for a while?” Dettlaff asks as he comes over to turn on a small little lantern nearby. Lora, quickly realizes what he’s asking as he pulls a chair over, sitting down nearby placing the parchment pad in his lap.

“Would you like the cloak on or off?” Lora inquires, Dettlaff feeling a strange ping in his chest. A feeling he has yet to feel since he had been with Rhenawedd. He has always loved her scars, they’ve always piqued his curiosity whenever he could get a glance at them, including the one that is almost always on view on her forearm.

“Whichever is more comfortable.”

Lora takes the time removing her cloak before tossing it off to the side as she gets a bit comfier in the stool as she leans her head back against the wall. Once Dettlaff sees her not fidgeting or moving much, he begins a rough sketch of the pose she is in. Once he gets her basic form down, he begins working on simple details, like her limbs, appendages, and begins with her head and facial structure. 

He looks at her more so than looking at the paper, gliding his pencils over the parchment as he works. In fact, Lora decides to look at him, watching as he works getting somewhat mesmerized at how quickly he works. How his eyes dart between the parchment and herself. From her position, she can see the scarring details, her hair swooping in the most elegant way. 

Soon enough, he finishes the drawing and Lora realizes she is feeling somewhat better. That she could go a bit longer without drinking without feeling her skin crawl. Dettlaff stands and walks over to her, handing her the piece of parchment.

“What do you think?” He asks simply.

“... Thank you… well worth the distraction.” Lora smiles as she looks at him, being at eye level since she is sitting on the elevated stool. “It’s always nice to see detailed drawings of my scars… could I… it’s been a while but… could I, attempt to draw you?”

Dettlaff immediately is thrown for a loop, never actually hearing someone asking him the question he always asks. Without saying a word, he nods his head, flipping to another piece of parchment handing her the materials. The two switch positions, Dettlaff now sitting on the stool as she takes a seat in the chair he was previously sitting in. Dettlaff chooses a more simple position as she gets to work, focusing intently on the initial sketch. 

She works for a while on the sketch, but eventually stops as she has a very basic drawing of his face getting a little frustrated. “It’s been a while since I’ve tried drawing, but,” she stands and walks over to Dettlaff handing the pad over to him, “I still hope you like it.”

Dettlaff’s gaze immediately went to the way she drew his eyes, how they are the most hyper realistic thing about the drawing.  _ She spent a lot of time on my eyes… _ he thinks to himself before responding to her. “It turned out lovely.” This makes her smile, making him also crack a smile. “You mentioned before that you have never truly seen the scars on your back, right?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“What if I had a way to show you? Not through a drawing, but physically could show you.”

“I’d say you’re out of your mind to tell you the truth. How could you actually show me? It isn’t like we appear in mirrors.”

“Just, trust me. You will.”

The entire walk over to the cemetery Regis and Saska reside in, Lora can’t help but ask a ton of questions. But before they leave the harbour area, they actually bump into Saska leaving one of the shops.

“Saska?” Lora exclaims as they greet one another, “I had no idea you were in town. Picking up something?”

“Yes actually. I managed to track down this shop here that sells herbs, crystals, magic type items and managed to actually have inventory of a few sticks of circle chalk I was able to buy. For that um, thing I’m working on.” Immediately, both Lora and Dettlaff know she is speaking of the Unseen. Now the trio walk back to the cemetery, Saska asking them her own question. “Heading over to see Regis?”

“Actually,” Dettlaff begins, “I wanted to show her your mirror since she has never truly seen the scarring on her back.”

“Oh my gosh I completely forgot about the mirror! When we get back I’ll find it for you.”

The entire way back, Lora asks plenty of questions about this mirror, that is until she begins asking about how circle chalk actually works. This conversation eventually stops once they get inside the crypt and reach the bottom of the stairs, Regis peeking over the balcony, seeing his mate and friends arrive at once, Saska hurrying up the steps to start rummaging through her things.

“My, you seem on a mission my dear. Can I be of assistance?” Regis asks, Saska rummaging through different bags and drawers.

“Where did you put that mirror you stole from one of my other worldly apartments?” 

“In a drawer to your-... no your right… no no, down one. There you go.” Following his instructions, she opens the drawer in her desk she stops at, seeing the mirror right on top. Grabbing it, she runs to one of the walls, leaning it up on a ledge somewhat at chest height in comparison to how similar in height Lora is to Saska. 

Saska grabs Regis by the hand and drags him down the steps and over to where she plans on setting up the magic circle as Lora and Dettlaff converse nearby the mirror, Lora hyping herself up a tad bit as Regis quietly questions her. 

“Why did you whisk me away, I rather would have liked to be a bit closer as she looked at herself for the first time.” That is when he gets this intense warm feeling deep within his chest, a bit confused as to why he’s feeling this way. That is until he notices how Lora turns around to look at herself without her cloak on as Dettlaff watches behind her, smiling. “Ahhh… I believe I understand what you are getting at… her scars look… well, interesting of course. But there almost… beautiful in a way.”

Lora, as she hands Dettlaff her cloak, takes a moment to herself, hyping herself up. 

_ Okay Lora, just turn around… you’re over sixteen hundred years old and finally going to be seeing your scarring mods… _

Dettlaff, because of his positioning, actually sees them first in the mirror, getting a little excited himself, especially since he has the opportunity to look at himself as well. This mirror baffles both vampire men, and as Lora turns around to look at herself, she jumps a tad as she sees herself reflected back.

She stands there completely stunned as she takes her image in, that is, until she turns around just enough to see the scarring design that is showing on her shoulders and down the middle of her back. A soft gasp can be heard coming from Lora as she places both hands over her mouth as Dettlaff takes a few steps forward, joining her by her side.

In the far corner of the crypt, Saska decides to turn around once the two vampires get closer together in front of the mirror. She begins pulling the items she had bought out of her bag, setting down candles and a good amount of magic chalk sticks setting them down on a nearby side table. Regis leans closer to her, whispering in her ear.

“How much would you care to bet that within the next few days, those are going to be engaging in some… private activities.”

“Oh I would absolutely bet that at some point soon those two will share a bed.” Regis watches as Saska begins setting up a few things, untying the chalk sticks as she chooses a corner of the crypt nearby and begins to draw large circles along with writing some runes, and some words and phrases in Elder speech.

During this time, Dettlaff helps pull down the back of Lora’s top to show off more of her scars that run down the center of her back. Dettlaff, taking a long intake of breath, let’s himself become completely surrounded by her scent, making his head spin a little. Unbeknownst to him, Lora does the same, and that is when she smells a hint of…

_ Is that what I think it is? _

Thinking of how the vampire beside her could possibly be aroused at the moment, truly pushes her over the edge, now images of him and what he could look like without his large leather coat on could be extremely…  _ pleasing _ . 

It’s some time before the two vampires leave the crypt, both slightly worked up. But by this point, Saska has gone hard at work at attempting to locate the dimension in her little corner of the crypt. Regis happens to notice that a number of trips and walks in and out of the crypt, and she is still kneeling down in the center of the circle. In fact, it’s well past sundown and she is still kneeling on the ground. 

He begins to walk over to her, taking in the magic circle below her, the candles which will no doubt have to be replaced after today with how empty they are. Walking over to her makes him notice the various small piles of dirt systematically placed around the drawn circle on the stone floor. Saska is knelt on the stone, sitting back on her heels with her hands, palms resting on one another with obvious dirt rubbed onto them. 

Occasionally, the candles glow brighter, the dimeritium stones flickering between a very dim glow, to a somewhat brighter glow over time. Saska opens her eyes, the same glow overtaking her bracelet and the stones inlaid in it, also encompasses her eyes completely. This is when the glow stops, the candles extinguishing all at once as she groans, cursing under her breath before rubbing her temples.

“Damn it…” she says quietly before sighing, “Regis I know you’re there. You don’t have to keep quiet.”

“You’ve been there for quite some time, Sas. Could I be of any assistance?”

“I’ve been trying to locate this dimension and it's right there. I can feel it. Like I only need to reach out another foot and I can grasp it.” As she speaks, she’s incredibly animated, something Regis absolutely loves about her. Whenever she starts speaking of something that she is passionate about, she talks a lot with her hands, however it worries him much because something like what she is attempting to do could possibly exhaust her, or kill her. He’s still unsure about the whole thing. “The dimeritium has been helping. Hell, if this thing didn’t finally start working I don’t think I would’ve been able to last as long as I have.”

“You have only attempted this today, nothing happens immediately my love.” Regis pauses. “Please, do not try and kill yourself over this, for your own sake. And mine.”

Saska sighs, brushing herself off, “Okay okay, I yield.” Regis offers a hand, helping her stand up as he leads her over to the main living space of the crypt. 

“I just brewed a pot of tea, that will surely help rest that wild mind of yours. Trying to locate another dimension or world,” he grabs two glasses along with the kettle, pouring two cups of tea as he continues, “t seems to me like that would wreak havoc on the mind eventually.” He hands her the cup, Saska leaning against one of the railings as she takes occasional sips. 

“Surprisingly it doesn’t. It just takes a lot of concentration and time.”

_ Oh Regis, if you only actually knew that I had no idea what doing this is doing to my mind… let’s just keep that to yourself, Saska. _

The two share the tea, a pretty lovely green tea as they both begin doing a little bit of tidying and house work. Saska always tries to help organize his paperwork with him, especially with how thrown about his journals can get as he gets working himself. As she organizes the random sheets of parchment while Regis goes on about the history of a specific plant he grows, he hears Saska yell out.

“Ah, shit!”

“Are you…?” This is when he smells the faintest amount of blood. Her blood. He sighs as he watches her bring her finger to her mouth, sucking on it a bit. “What could you have possible cut yourself on over there?”

“Paper? I’m sorry Mr. Skin-of-Steel…” Saska trails off as she sees the dimeritium beginning to glow rather bright. She brings her hand a few inches away from her face as she sees a swirl of magic come from the bracelet before swirling around the paper cut on her hand. It heals in a matter of seconds and leaves no trace of damage as the light dissipates.

Saska is rather speechless as Regis watches, speaking up once the light disappears. “Well, that certainly is different.” He notices as she just stares at her hand, the obvious gears in her head beginning to spin. “Saska?”

“I have an idea,” she begins rushing over towards the mirror that is still resting against the wall on a higher ledge, “Gods why haven’t I thought of this sooner?” Saska then begins unbuckling the buckles on her overcoat along with her belt before letting both drop to the ground, Regis laughing a tad. 

“I mean I am always willing to make you-.”

“What? Oh no Regis not that.” She is now just in her leggings and undershirt, the shirt plunging into a deep neckline as she pushes it off to the side revealing the scars across her collarbone. She looks it over as she watches Regis walking towards her thanks to the reflection of the mirror.

He sighs. “I always hated that a bruxa was able to get that close to you. It should have never happened.” Raising her hand to the scars, the bracelet begins glowing as a similar magic swirls around her arm before stopping over the scars. After some time, no longer than thirty seconds, the scars are completely gone leaving no trace of them ever happening on her skin. 

The pair is silent for a time, that is until Regis speaks first. “Have you… you haven’t been able to do that this entire time have you?”

“No, I’ve tried a number of times.” Looking down at her hands, she begins getting slightly anxious, but in a good way as she then looks again to her collarbone seeing it clear of any damage. “I’ve tried over and over again but larger cuts like those were never able to fully go away but…”

“This mirror must be magical still…” Regis mumbles to himself as he stands directly behind her.

“I told you it isn’t magical now, just… shush for a minute.”

Saska takes a deep breath in, Regis immediately taking note of her rising heartbeat, her nerves getting the better of her as she pulls back her hair tucking it behind her left ear, showing the scarred tissue and cartilage. Regis rather immediately, understands why she is getting so nervous and worked up.

_ She’s attempting to heal her ear... _

“How stupid is this idea?” 

“Not terribly stupid since you are asking. But, perhaps don’t get your hopes up too much? You are attempting to fix cartilage which, especially with ears can be a bit tricky to do compared to skin that rests flat against one's body.”

_ Why does he… ah that’s right, I forgot he worked as a surgeon for a little while. _

“I mean… if I don’t try…” Saska trails off as he watches in the mirror as she lifts her hand, touching her ear. It soon becomes surrounded by a bright blue light, illuminating the entire crypt, becoming a bit bright to stare at for extended periods of time. This time however, the light doesn’t dissipate as quickly as it did with the bruxa scars, and it feels quite odd to Saska as well.

“Feeling anything different? That certainly is much brighter than normal.” Regis inquires as Saska focuses on healing.

“It feels… something is happening but it isn’t painful. Just feels… weird.” 

After a number of minutes, eventually, the light dissipates and as Saska lowers her hand, both Regis and herself notice her ear practically healed, other than a few spots where the cartilage had to be reattached to another part of cartilage. Saska, for a moment, is unable to comprehend as to what just happened as a smile forms on Regis’s face.

“You… did it!” He wraps his arms around her body embracing her in a tight hug. “I’m so utterly proud of you.”

A single tear falls down her cheek as a huge smile forms on Saska’s face.

* * *

For the rest of the night and well into the morning, Lora and Dettlaff stay to themselves, attempting to understand what both of them are feeling, and very much known to the other. That’s the biggest annoyance for both vampires, that both of them can sense the arousal the other is feeling. Lora is the one to act on those urges, walking up the steps to find Dettlaff sitting at his desk rubbing his temples. He turns his head looking at her sitting up more in his chair. 

There is no dialogue between the two as Dettlaff stands up looking at her. Lora walks more into the room staring at him directly. She stops once she is standing directly in front of him, almost chest to chest. She notices his eyes softening, the scent of arousal strong in the air.

That is when she decides to speak. 

“Both of us want one thing, I know you can tell.”

“I can.”

After a moment between the two, Dettlaff brings a hand up to caress her cheek as she shuts her eyes and leans into the touch. Lora intakes a long breath letting her nostrils completely take in and encompass her entire being in his scent. And that is when he disappears into a cloud of mist, circling her, making her feel like a million hands are all over her body making her feel her body beginning to warm and tingle as she hears his voice echo around her.

_ “Tur sle… tha zeri…” _

  
Back in Mère-Lachaiselongue Cemetery, Regis is gardening outside early in the morning when he feels a strong sense of satisfaction, and arousal.  _ Hm… I’m gardening and I’m feeling-... ah… _ , he thinks to himself as he smiles,  _ Saska is going to enjoy hearing about this little piece of gossip. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Tur sle… tha zeri…” - "Give in… let go…" - Etruscan  
> \-----  
> Dudes I ain't gonna lie, drawing Saska without her ear scarring has been so lovely lately. <3


	13. Unforeseen Consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics mean a character's thoughts are being depicted.  
> Italics in between horizontal line breaks mean a flashback or dream is taking place.  
> Horizontal lines without anything listed above means a jump in time.  
> \-----  
> This chapter has some lengthy pieces of dialogue in different languages, so the translation will be below instead of in the notes just for better context since it isn't just a word here or there. And it will also be in the end notes as it always is.

After sunrise, Dettlaff returns upstairs with a number of rags along with a bowl of water. Once upstairs, dressed in nothing but his trousers, watch as Lora looks down at her sides, running her fingers over the new mating marks from the previous night. Once Lora notices him walking into the room to place the small bowl of water down on his work desk, she can’t help but smile, still seeing the fang marks on the side of his neck and down his chest. The pair take the time to clean off with a few wet rags, any scars that bled a bit during the previous nights escapade as they speak to one another in hushed and gravelly voices. 

“Was that plenty of a distraction for you?” Dettlaff asks as he takes the rag to her side.

“Plenty…” Lora responds a tad breathlessly, “and I wanted to know if this… thing we did, if it was just a one time distraction.”

“... Well, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a distraction.”

The pair look at one another, quite close to one another sitting on the bed as they both lean in for a soft kiss.

* * *

Over the course of a few days, there are more and more attempts from Saska to open a portal to the vampire's homeworld, however, she fails every single time. And soon enough, runs out of the dust collection she had gathered from the Unseen’s cave. Neither herself, nor Regis wants to return there, however they are welcome. Whether it is stressful to even think about being in his presence or not.

The pair portal directly outside the cave before making their way inside, eventually in the presence of the vampire who is standing in the center of the room. The two bow as he speaks to them.

“You returned…” The Unseen says rather directly, Saska responding as she stands back up.

“I have.”

“Empty handed…”

“I returned to gather a bit more dust, and to attempt to open the portal here. Perhaps I may have a bit more luck.”

The Unseen rather immediately leave the pair to do what they need to as Saska hurries over to the portion of the cave where the dust can be found most abundantly. Regis stands guard close by to where the cave shoots out, just in case he has to defend her from anything attempting to enter the cave.

Especially once he feels a hand on his shoulder.

“Regis,” Saska says softly, “I’m going to attempt it here. It just feels… a bit more right if that makes sense.”

“I shall keep watch then.”

Saska takes a rather lengthy time walking over to where she sees the ring of rock circling the tunnel, kneeling down on the cold stone ground. Taking a deep breath in, she is quite surprised when she notices the dimeritium in her bracelet beginning to glow soft, the light bouncing off the walls. Grabbing a fistful of dust and dirt off the ground, she rubs it between her hands as she shuts her eyes, holding her hands out, palms pointed to the cave ceiling.

With a brighter light coming form behind himself, Regis turns around and sees the blue glow coming from the bracelet on Saska’s left wrist as she begins uttering something in her own native tongue. He can practically feel the Unseen’s gaze on the back of his head. Saska on the other hand, is deep within her mind, the stars whizzing past her head as she reaches out physically into space, finally able to reach something similar to the dust in the cave, however, much more solid and tangible. She begins reciting the spell, unaware of the effect it has to the real world around her.

As Saska begins reciting a spell in Elder Speech, the Unseen Elder and Regis both notice how the cave walls begin to shake more violently as she continues, how small pebbles begin falling from the ceiling, and how a low rumble can be heard beginning to become ever so louder as she continues. 

_ “Aep aecáemm abb y aevon, aep burn aep aine aep deithwen, me morc'h ess fhean aiesin… va'esse deireádh aep eigean, va'esse eigh faidh'ar.”  
_ _ ("To follow the mouth of the river, to burn the light to the white flame, my brightness will scatter the shadow… Something ends, something begins.") _

Once she utters the final word, the cave begins tremoring harder and more intense as larger rocks begin falling from the ceiling. Saska begins to become encompassed by a bright swirling light and as it rushes around her body, it sends a shockwave out throughout the cave making the vampires become a bit unsteady. Regis barely has time to react as Saska is thrown backwards from the shockwave through the cave. 

He flies across the cave, able to catch her before she makes contact with the far wall. Cradling her in his arms, she opens her eyes and begins frantically looking around her as the tremors stop and the cave becomes still. 

“Regis, let me go I-.”

“No, you need to calm down-.” He cuts himself off as she teleports out of his arms and a few feet away. The Unseen stays off to the side of the pair, but still watching and listening. Saska, feeling a bit twitchy and nervous, begins to explain herself.

“Regis please I… I was so close, I had it.” This immediately piques the Unseen’s interest. “I need to try again, and immediately.” she then turns to look at the Elder, “I was beginning to open up to the world. I… I felt it. And with that much magic centered around one specific area, no doubt mages are already on their way to investigate… this.” Saska says motioning to the cave around her as she looks back to Regis. “I need to do this as soon as possible or else this place will become flooded with mages and they will no doubt refuse to leave.” 

Regis knows exactly what this would entail.  
The Unseen Elder killing every single one of them no doubt.

Expecting an argument, Saska prepares her rebuttal. However, she is shocked when Regis agrees with her, asking, “What do you need me to do.”

“Try and shield me from any falling debris. And your kind just in case I may get in their way… if you’re willing to possibly get hurt.”

“Only if you promise to heal me right up if it is hard to heal myself and you have yourself a deal.” Saska again, takes a deep breath as she walks across the cave and kneels down where she once was. Regis joins her, kneeling behind her, wrapping his arms around her torso. “What should I expect to feel?”

“I don’t know. But just expect the magic to not want you there. Surprise surprise I haven’t tried to create a Conjunction by myself. Or ever for that matter.” This gets a chuckle out of the vampire as she says one last thing before shutting her eyes.

“I love you, Regis.”

“And I love you.” 

Again, Saska recites the same phrase, the cave beginning to tremor as rocks and small boulders begin falling much quicker than the last time. A bright white light encompasses Saska’s body as some rocks begin falling and hitting Regis, however they do not hit Saska, something Regis is thankful for. The Unseen watches from a distance away, unwavering even from the tremors and rocks falling. The wind picks up, dirt and dust beginning to get picked up as a huge portal opens just in front of Saska, swirling between a bright white light and various blue hues. 

Every ounce of Saska’s body feels as though it is filled with pure fire as a bright white light explodes from herself and takes over the entire room. Her voice echoes through the cave system, screaming,  _ “PULL ME OUT!” _

Regis picks her up and flies as fast as possible away from the still open portal, Saska’s eyes now glowing as bright as the magic flowing from her fingertips. Saska returns to the real world which she watches with slight panic as the cave seemingly begins to collapse in the far corners from the effects of the spell. In a pure panic for the cave to collapse and all her work to be destroyed, Saska gets up and teleports to the center of the cave, the bracelet on her wrist still glowing bright as she raises it pointing her palm up to the ceiling, a forcefield appearing just beneath the ceiling. 

The Unseen flies inside the portal, creating almost a skip in Saska’s heartbeat making her breath heavily. She can feel everything he does inside the portal including the bats that fly out of the portal and out of the cave, flying across Toussaint and the surrounding areas.

“She did it… by the Gods she did it…” Regis says to himself, hearing the Unseen’s words ring out through the bat's message.

“TRANSLATION PLEASE!” Saska cries out as she continues to hold the forcefield up against the cave ceiling and walls as Regis runs over to her, joining her by her side.

“It worked. How long do you think you can keep that portal open?”

“Not long, it’s- AGH! Feels like my body is on f-fire.” Regis notices how intense her eyes still look, how her green eye color occasionally peeks through the glow that encompasses her eyes. By the hoards, various vampires, beasts, and monsters rush through the portal, Saska now attempting to keep the forcefield activated as she raises her other arm to focus on the portal. With every living thing that passes through the portal, Saska can feel the fire ignite hotter inside her, feeling like she is being burnt alive. So much so that she doesn’t notice the new visitors that don’t intend to go through the portal.

“She… she did it!” Lora exclaims as Dettlaff and her rush over to Regis, Dettlaff speaking to Regis.

“Is she going to be okay?” Regis does not respond, only able to look at his mate as she shows her true power and potential. Watching as she refuses to give up.  Somehow, Saska continues on until the hordes of vampires, and what could be considered monsters stop coming through the cave, the Unseen walks out from the portal and flies over to Saska until he is directly in front of her hand extended towards the portal. 

He takes one of his hands, dropping an item into it as he says, “Cnar nir elder cuth... thui thu nir na la… thank you…”  
 _("Born of Elder Blood… now one of us... thank you.")_

He disappears through the portal and this is when she notices a small medallion similar in shape and design to his medallion he wears around his neck, a symbol her vampire companions recognize all too well, and are quite shocked at what he said.

“Um,” Saska begins, “I hate to ask for a translation again but um…”

“You’re… part of the pack.” Regis says extremely shocked, “there are more coming. Another horde of our kind.”

Saska curses to herself before speaking, “I can’t hold this for much longer,” her eyes begin to flicker in brightness, “I need help and I don’t suppose you guys can’t keep a portal open.” Turning back to focusing on keeping the cave from collapsing and the portal open, she hears, and also strangely feels someone teleport inside the cave off to the left hand side. Turning her head, she sees a familiar mage dressed in robes and grey hair along with a matching beard. “Miir?! What the hell are you doing here?”

“Oh my… Saska?!” He runs over to her. “By the Spirits, how did… what did you do?” he asks completely and utterly shocked as he takes in the portal. 

“Allowed the ones that wish to leave to go home.” she then looks at Lora, “you must decide soon.”  Lora looks between Saska and then the portal, honestly already knowing her answer. She grabs Dettlaff’s hand and stays exactly where she is, Dettlaff looking at her a bit surprised, but somewhat relieved. 

“Are you certain?" Dettlaff asks a little surprised, "This could be the only option of you ever returning home.”

“There’s nothing for me home. I’ve got what I need right in this room.” Lora responds with a smile, Dettlaff smiling softly down at her. Suddenly, a bright light appears from Miir’s now summoned staff as he points it at the portal, his robes beginning to billow as the wind whips around them.  Saska feels immediate relief as she can focus a bit more on stabilizing the cave along with the portal with Miir’s help. After a few minutes of the next wave of vampires that flies through, there is again a time of calm as another grouping of bats flies out of the portal, through the cave, and back inside. Regis walks over and stands behind Saska translating for her.

“That’s it. He’s asked you to close the portal.” 

Looking at Miir, Saska nods her head and they both end their spells at about the same time, her eyes finally losing the bright glow they once had along with the bracelet losing its glows as well. However, her insides still feel like they are on fire as her veins take on an extremely similar dark blue color as she falls to her knees feeling quite exhausted. 

Regis catches her, easing her down as he watches her veins begin to fade, her heartbeat racing the fastest he’s ever heard it. Miir joins them watching as her veins fade, smiling wide. “By the Spirits you did it… you did it! I’m so proud of you.” He says hugging Saska tightly, Saska hugging back as Dettlaff walks over and picks up the Unseens medallion, waiting for everyone to finish making sure she is alright before walking over and handing the medallion to her. 

And very quickly, and quite aggressively, Saska became the most powerful Elder Blood carrier, and mage as the dimeritium infused itself into her body, the two entities becoming one with one another. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Aep aecáemm abb y aevon, aep burn aep aine aep deithwen, me morc'h ess fhean aiesin… va'esse deireádh aep eigean, va'esse eigh faidh'ar.” - "To follow the mouth of the river, to burn the light to the white flame, my brightness will scatter the shadow… Something ends, something begins." - Elder Speech
> 
> “Cnar nir elder cuth... thui thu nir na la… thank you…” - "Born of Elder Blood… now one of us... thank you." - Etruscan)


	14. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Horizontal lines means a jump in time.  
> Italics mean someone's thoughts are being depicted.

Lora and Dettlaff arrive back in Dettlaff’s shop in the harbour, both sitting down to relax as he pops open a bottle of Regis’s mandrake brew, pouring two glasses, one for each of them. Lora takes a sip before speaking. 

“So that’s it then… they’re leaving.” Lora says simply.

“Seems like it. I wonder when she will tell Regis, no doubt it’ll be soon.” Dettlaff responds by taking a lengthy drink of his brew. “They’ll be alright. We just have to pretend like we don’t know them for the time being, unless we know whoever is asking about them is trustworthy.” Dettlaff hesitates, a question burning at his mind. “Why didn’t you leave? I figured you’d want to go home.”

“I told you. I have everything I need right here. I wouldn’t want to force you to leave and come with me.”

Dettlaff smiles raising his glass to her, Lora clinking hers to his. “To new adventures? Besides, I would love to meet your brother.”

“To new adventures.”

The pair get to know one another much more in depth, learning what makes each other tick, in more safe-for-work and not-safe-for-work ways. Their likes, dislikes, favorite foods, and just overall enjoy one another’s company.  Lora, finally, feels as though she is truly content with her life and cannot wait to see where Dettlaff and her relationship takes her.

* * *

As a surprise to Miir, Regis, and Saska, the dimeritium heals most, if not all the damage Saska had caused herself in creating another Conjunction of Spheres by herself, along with keeping it the rip in time open with assistance. Miir stays by her and Regis’s side for a few days before Saska reassures him enough that she is alright and strong enough to do everything herself. Regis waits nearby the staircase as Saska and Miir say their goodbyes. 

“Thank you, Miir,” Saska begins with a smile on her face, “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you if that’s even possible now.”

“No need. My job given by your parents way back when you were a little newborn was to protect you.”

“Yes, but you did break one of the rules did you not?” Saska raises an eyebrow, poking some fun at the mage which makes him smile as he sighs.

“Alright, so I did interfere when I should not have. But I now know I would have regretted that decision in the long run.” He pauses for just a moment before continuing. “You’ve grown so much. And I know if your parents were alive, especially your mother, she would be so extremely proud of you.  _ I’m _ so proud of you.” The pair embrace one another in a long and tight embrace, holding one another as they continue to speak to one another. 

“I’ll miss you… a lot.”

“Really? Having a stuffy old elven mage around isn’t that much fun. But,” he leans away just enough as he reaches into his pocket to pull out a small drawstring bag intriguing Saska immediately, “inside this bag is a necklace. When worn, you can communicate with me if you need to. If you ever need advice, or if you just want to talk. I have an identical one and the connection might be a bit distant when we first try and use it. But eventually it should be as clear as speaking to one another right now.”

Miir, urging Saska that the fact that they are both together may signal a strong magical pulse to a mage that is no doubt tracking whatever created the rip in time, decides that it is finally time to leave. What surprises Miir is that Regis offers to walk him out of the crypt which seems in character for the vampire, but still a bit odd. Once the two are out of the room, Saska opens the small velvet bag to reveal a gold chain necklace with a teal sapphire pendant hanging from it, matching quite well with her current dimeritium bracelet. She hangs it around her neck, admiring it in a nearby mirror. 

Outside the crypt’s entrance, Miir turns to Regis and says, “Thank you for welcoming me into your home so graciously. It isn’t every day I become friends with a vampire, a higher vampire at that.”

“You shall always be welcome here, and I wanted to thank you for always being by her side whether or not you were physically able to. For being here right now, especially since none of us could have possibly helped her keep that rip open. For being there on Ard Skellige and helping find the Sunstone and then at the battle soon after. Hell, even being there centuries ago when we somehow first met.”

This makes the mage smile. “Saska hated you so much back then.”

“I do not blame her at all.” The two share a laugh before shaking each other’s hand to bring one another in for a side hug. Regis takes the split second before the release one another to take a long whiff of his scent. 

_ Herbs… potions and alchemic ingredients… typical, that’s for sure. _

“So long, Regis. I hope we can meet again under less stressful circumstances.”

“Safe travels, my friend.” And with that, Miir walks away from the crypt a lengthy distance before summing a portal to leave Toussaint.

After a short time, Saska comes out two freshly brewed cups of tea as Regis sits down on one of the out-of-ground tombs. Saska takes the opportunity to climb sideways onto his lap as they both take in the sunrise as they sip their tea. All that can be heard is the occasional bird call and other various forest creatures scurrying about the brush. However, the pair is quiet for a while. That is until Regis breaks it.

“One day you are surely going to end up giving me a heart attack and killing me. Whether or not I am immortal, if anything has the power to kill me, it is you.” This makes Saska smile as she looks at Regis. 

“Well, I feel honored then if you really think I could kill you.” Saska responds, Regis smiling up at her as he wraps his arm more around her waist to pull her even closer than what they already are. 

Regis stares up at her for a while, noticing how she stares out onto the horizon.  _ Her thinking face… _ is what he calls it anyway. It is when her facial expression seems both blank and attempting to hide just how fast her brain is working at the moment. But at the same time as he begins to wonder what in God’s name she is thinking about now, he takes the time to admire the way the warm orange and yellow sunrise reflects her bright green eyes, adding a warm tone to her skin and white and grey hair. When Saska notices Regis stare up at her for a longer amount of time than expected, she looks at him. “Admiring the view?” She asks with some sassy undertones.

“Yes I am…” Regis replies, “and I am also wondering what you are planning now.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Absolutely.”

“Well,” Saska begins, “only time will tell if what I did has consequences or not I suppose.”

“A damn shame really, no doubt whatever mage, or sorcerer, or sorceress who is investigating what you did will probably be looking for you as well.”

“Miir can help us out but no doubt someone will find out where I am… so um…”

“We have to leave then.” Saska is a little taken back at how quick he is to say ‘we’ as we continues. “At least for a short time, or long, I do not mind either way. I can pack rather lightly, and our horse should be perfectly fine in coming with us.”

“We?”

“How many times do I have to explain that you are not going to go through this alone? Not only are you my best friend, my mate, you are part of my pack, and now an honorary member of my tribe. Besides, being here alone would be quite boring, and knowing you, you must have some extravagant plan or scheme you’re thinking about.” Saska is hesitant to respond, because she does indeed have a plan. Regis sighs, “By the Gods you do- okay, tell me. How crazy of a plan do you already have buzzing about in that head of yours?”

“You’re willing to help just like that?” Saska asks.

“You should know me better by now my dear.”

“… Well, do you remember Vernon Roche? The Temerian we had met back at Kaer Morhen?”

“Most definitely, and his young ward Ves as well. Do they need our assistance?”

“He wants to take back Temeria.”

Regis hesitates for a moment, hearing the words fall from his mate’s lips. Instead of thinking of his response, he says it outloud. “… Saska that could start a possible war. You said it yourself that you need to keep a low profile for a time and who knows how long that time will be.”

“My plan is to avoid a war, Regis. I might even have a way to do so.”

“Remember those magic users I just mentioned that will be looking for the cause of the Conjunction? They will also be most certainly intrigued as to why an incredibly powerful magic user is aiding a small military force in taking a country back. It will also be pretty suspicious seeing as though you are a Child of the Elder Blood, no doubt about that.” Regis responds with a sassy undertone as he continues. “Hell, the Duchess of Toussaint is already sending her troops and soldiers to look for whoever created another Conjunction in her country and you are thinking of taking back a country?”

Saska stays silent as Regis speaks, knowing every single word he says is right. So much so that Regis notices how silent and still she is being once he stops speaking. He hesitates before speaking up again.

“… If I agree to coming along with you, can we at least go on a short mini vacation. Preferably somewhere nice and tropical?”

This makes Saska laugh a little before kissing his forehead.

“Of course we can.” 

They both turn back to watch the sunrise, Saska leaning in to plant a kiss on the top of Regis’s head before leaning into him more as they sit there. Once the area has less of the orangey hue cast by the sunrise, the two of them get up, pack some of the essentials, load up their horse, and begin traveling by the afternoon. 

First stop, that short vacation somewhere remote and warm Regis had requested.   
The end goal, wherever Vernon Roche, Ves, and their band of military men have set up camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all who have liked, commented, shared, and overall enjoyed reading this fic and the series thus far. It's so amazing knowing that something that brings me so much happiness and enjoyment is reciprocated by other people.   
> Much love to you all, and I am currently attempting to work on the next, and perhaps (who knows for sure, tbh) final installment of Saska and Regis's crazy story I've come up with.

**Author's Note:**

> As always I hope you enjoyed reading, and please let me know if you find any errors that I may have missed as this was not beta-read.  
> Special thanks for this installment: gharashambles/silenceisaweapon, awkward-turtles-world, mackallackattack, herbalina-of-yesteryear/littleherbalina - Thank you all for listening to my absolute nonsense at all hours of the day and night <3


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